Julian Assange has had his freedom restored following a plea bargaining deal agreed with the US authorities. The agreement announced early on Tuesday 25 June led to his release from Belmarsh high security prison the previous day where he had been held for five years, mostly in solitary confinement. This followed a bail hearing for the Wikileaks founder held in private in London on Thursday 20 June.
In a statement issued by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPC) Stephen Parkinson, its director said the case has “absorbed considerable time and resource from the criminal justice system over many years”.
He said the intended outcome of the plea agreement is “to accomplish the primary objective of delivering justice”, and that it will also save “continual substantial resource”.
Assange enters plea in Saipan
The High Court in London published further details on 25 June which stated that:
“Julian Assange was granted bail to allow him to travel to the ‘US District Court in Saipan (in the Pacific), pursuant to a plea agreement signed by the parties on 19 June 2024’ The deal agrees ‘a plea of guilty to one count on the indictment with a proposed sentence of time served’ and it is ‘anticipated that a plea will be entered and accepted on Wednesday 26 June 2024, after which the United States have undertaken to withdraw the extradition request’.”
Assange flew from Stanstead Airport in Essex accompanied by Australia’s UK high commissioner on Monday, landing in Bangkok to refuel and then onto the Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific.
Assange has, in the last few hours, plead guilty on one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents. Due to the time already spent in Belmarsh Prison, he has been sentenced to time served, with no financial penalty or probation period.
Assange has landed in Canberra, Australia, where he will join his wife Stella and their two children.
‘Victory for common sense, media freedom and human decency’
The BBC News website reported that Greg Barns, an Australian barrister and adviser to the Assange Campaign, told the BBC that Assange’s release is a ”great day”.
He said pressure from the Australian government and across the political spectrum – including a delegation that visited the US last year – made it clear to the Americans there was a lot of political support for Assange’s return home.
“It’s pretty clear that Julian can now start to move on with his life”, Barns said.
The decision was welcomed by the International Federation of Journalists which has long campaigned for his release. In a statement posted on the National Union of Journalists website, its deputy general secretary, Tim Dawson said:
“It is a victory for common sense, media freedom and human decency. Assange is free, and it seems, will stay that way. For the US, expending such energy attempting to incarcerate the Wikileaks founder for the rest of his life has exposed a bullying nature, damaged its reputation as a haven for free speech, and has shone an unforgiving light on its military operations. This agreement creates the opportunity to repair that damage …”
Julian Assange was originally facing 18 charges, and feared a long sentence in a US high security prison if extradited. His ordeal was regularly covered in Yorkshire Bylines.
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