Washington: Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks walked out of UK jail on Tuesday, June 25, after striking a ‘plea deal’ with US authorities in an espionage case. This ends a 15-year-long legal saga over the controversy of publishing classified documents about US Defence.
The 52-year-old was charged in 2019 by US authorities under then-President Donald Trump‘s administration for violating the Espionage Act and was seeking extradition from the UK. The initial charges imposed on Assange, 17 related to espionage and one related to computer misuse which carried a maximum penalty of 175 years in prison if he was found guilty on all counts.
The plea deal with the Biden administration ensures Assange’s admitting guilt while also sparing him from any additional prison time than what he has already served. Under the deal, he will also be allowed to return to Australia.
Assange spent years hiding out in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after Swedish authorities sought his arrest on rape allegations before being locked up in the United Kingdom.
The United States Justice Department in a letter filed in the federal court said that Assange is expected to appear in the court in the Mariana Islands to plead guilty to an ‘Espionage Act charge of conspiring to obtain and disseminate classified national defence information unlawfully.’
Who is Julian Assange?
An Australian editor and publisher, Julian Assange is best known for having founded the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, which gained massive attention — and notoriety — for the 2010 release of almost half a million documents relating to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His activism made him a cause célèbre among press freedom advocates who said his work in exposing U.S. military misconduct in foreign countries made his activities indistinguishable from what traditional journalists are expected to do as part of their jobs.
What Charges Are Against Assange?
Assange, 52, has been indicted in the United States (US) on 17 charges of espionage and a charge of computer misuse of WikiLeaks publication of the classified documents in 2010.
Prosecutors accused Assange of conspiring with US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack Pentagon systems.
Prosecutors accused Assange of conspiring with US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack Pentagon systems. They further charged him for releasing secret documents and military files on the Iraq and Afghanistan war.
Among the files released by Assange’s WikiLeaks was footage of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by the American military in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed as many as 11 people.
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