WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange who exposed the war crimes of the United States by leaking U.S. classified documents is now a free man following a plea deal with the U.S. government.
The United States wants to have the sensitive materials that Assange obtained destroyed. And in order to know why, his lawyer simply said… to just ask the U.S. government.
“We’ve just negotiated the return of an Australian citizen from the most powerful country in the world who are prosecuting him for doing journalism,” according to Jennifer Robinson, Human Rights Lawyer.
Julian Assange walked free from a court in Saipan on Wednesday, after pleading guilty to a single charge of espionage.
The hearing’s location in Saipan – a US commonwealth in Northern Mariana Islands – was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and Assange’s own opposition to traveling to the United States.
“The espionage case against Mr. Assange in the Eastern District of Virginia was formally dismissed, and the case against him is over, formally and officially. It’s a case that never should have been brought, and I hope that we never have another case like it. The United States has never previously prosecuted somebody for publishing classified information, in this case, information that was plainly newsworthy and in the public’s interest to know information that revealed war crimes by the United States government, information that revealed that civilian casualties were exponentially higher than the United States government had admitted. That is not just journalism, that is journalism at the highest level,” said Atty. Barry Pollack, Assange’s Lawyer.
While Assange’s offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of ‘time served’, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK’s Belmarsh Prison.
It can be remembered that Assange had been detained in the London Prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US with over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.
For Stella Assange, wife of Julian Assange, her husband only pleaded guilty to committing journalism.
“This case criminalises journalistic activity, standard journalistic activity of news gathering and publishing. And so, this is the reality of this prosecution,” stated Stella Assange, Wife of Julian Assange | Human Rights Activist.
Part of Assange’s plea deal with the U.S. government requires him to have the classified materials he obtained destroyed.
And his lawyer made a comment regarding this.
“You’d have to ask the United States government why they insisted on including that clause.”
“In fact, the United States in court in Saipan yesterday conceded and the judge found that there is no evidence that any harm has befallen any individual anywhere in the world as a result of Mr. Assange’s publications,” said Atty. Barry Pollack, Assange’s Lawyer.
Meanwhile, the court insisted that Assange issues an instruction to the editor of Wikileaks to destroy any materials they might have that were not published and the founder has complied with that provision and issued that instruction.
On the other hand, Stella, who was seen embracing her husband when he landed in Canberra on Wednesday, shared that Julian simply plans to ‘enjoy his freedom’.
“Julian plans to swim in the ocean every day. He plans to sleep in a real bed. He plans to taste real food and he plans to enjoy his freedom,” Stella Assange added.
