Julian Assange is free and set to finalise a deal with the US in the next day or so which should see him back in Australia by Thursday or Friday (AEST) at the latest. On the face of it, there are two key factors for the US negotiating the deal and one key factor for Julian Assange accepting the deal.
Firstly, the US were almost certain to lose the next court hearing in the UK for their Julian Assange extradition attempt given the US had failed to give the UK court the assurances they asked for regarding Assange’s legal rights in the US.
The Guardian reported: “The assurances requested were that he would be permitted to rely on the first amendment of the US constitution, which protects freedom of speech; that he would not be “prejudiced at trial” due to his nationality; and that the death penalty would not be imposed.”
The judges accepted there was an arguable case that he could be discriminated against, after being told that a US prosecutor had said the first amendment may not apply to foreigners when it came to national security issues. (Click here to read more)
In fact, the US had in effect lost the last 2 court hearings on the same issues so they would have known for a fact they stood no chance of winning the next hearing.
Reuters reported on the 11th of June 2024 that the hearing was set down for the 9th and 10th of July 2024 which meant a decision was almost certain to be handed down before the US Presidential elections on the 5th of November 2024 which is the second key factor motivating the US to settle the matter.
US President Joe Biden was faced with the real possibility that Julian Assange would win his case in the UK and be free before the Presidential election.
Julian Assange winning his court case in the UK and walking free would have been very embarrassing for the US and President Joe Biden.
In fact, it would have also been very embarrassing for the UK government and UK courts who have kept Assange locked up for 5 years and also for the Australian government who have done very little to help Assange other than occasional lip service.
So, cutting a deal with Julian Assange pleading guilty to one charge, instead of multiple charges, and walking free for the 62 months of time already served in the UK is a good deal for the US and President Joe Biden.
Julian Assange was caught between a rock and a hard place. While he was very likely to win his court case in the UK next month the judges could have sat on a decision for months if not a year or more. And even if the US lost they might have still had appeal options which could have left Assange in jail for a lot longer.
Also, a win in the UK courts next month would not have meant Assange no longer had to worry about being extradited to the US. The US could wait until Assange went overseas to another country and try to extradite Assange again.
The below video is Julian Assange boarding a flight at London Stansted Airport at 5PM (BST) Monday June 24th. The video was published by WikiLeaks on Twitter (X).
I published a video yesterday on Julian Assange’s release as soon as reporting on the issue started. (Click here to watch the video on YouTube)
The below video is Julian Assange arriving in Bangkok on his way to Saipan Island which is part of the Northern Mariana Islands. It was published by WikiLeaks on Twitter at 8.36pm Tuesday – 25/6/24. (Click here to follow Julian’s plane)
The deal
The deal still has to be approved by a judge and is not final yet but most of the media are reporting the same as The Guardian below:
Assange is scheduled to appear in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the western Pacific, where he is expected to plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information. The extradition request is expected to be dropped and Assange won’t face any other charges.
The hearing is taking place in the Northern Mariana Islands because of Assange’s opposition to travelling to the US mainland and the court’s proximity to Australia.
Prosecutors have agreed to a sentence of five years, but have said the time already served in a British prison will count towards this. This means that he will probably walk free after the sentencing.
The guilty plea must still be approved by a judge, but if it is, he is expected to return to Australia after the sentencing. (Click here to read more)
A win-win
After the deal is finalised the US and President Joe Biden can move on saying that Assange pleaded guilty to one charge which they will claim vindicates their legal action to extradite him to the US. They can also say given he has already spent 62 months in jail they don’t need to jail him any longer and he can go free.
Assange pleading guilty to one charge will also be used by the UK and Australian government to justify their actions and lack of actions etc.
Julian Assange can now move on with his life without looking over his shoulder at least as far as the US government trying to jail him is concerned.
Where to now
I thought it was important to write this article as a lot of people are falsely claiming credit for Julian Assange’s release.
President Joe Biden had a major incentive to negotiate a deal now, and quickly, to avoid the embarrassment of losing the court case set down for hearing only 2 weeks away on the 9th and 10th of July.
There is nothing special about parties to a court case negotiating a deal before a hearing especially when one party knows they will lose. What is special about this matter is how long the US was able to drag out the matter given they had no case as exposing war crimes is not a crime.
The reality is Assange, his legal team and his supporters fought the good fight and were about to win in court and the US and Joe Biden knew it so they cut any deal they could get to save face. Obviously, it was also a deal that Assange was happy to take so he could move on with his life with some certainty.
Everyone who spent even a small amount of time over the last 10 years or more supporting Julian Assange can take some credit for his release. Julian Assange’s wife Stella sums it up best as per below: (Click here to see Stella’s message on Twitter)
The big question I have is will Julian Assange run for federal parliament like he did back in 2013. That would be interesting to say the least.
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Categories: WikiLeaks
I helped Wikileaks Party to raise money when we contested the Senate seat, you know, the one gained by the MOTOR ENTHUSIASTS PARTY, when the Wikileaks Party mysteriously collapsed at election in ’09(?)(nothing to see here, ASIS & AFP have NO COMMENTS!). Ayup. Remember Garret & the collapse of his movement? Pre Rudd? If he runs again, we’ll do Security a little different…
I hope Assange does run for Parliament.
Would be good to see, but the evil forces of ALP/LNP and their masters from Newscorp wouldn’t allow it, eg remember the skullduggery when Newscorp wanted to slot in their preferred candidate Hon S. Morrison and their defaming of the branch selected candidate. History shows current PM and Opposition leader are far from honourable members who would resort to gutter tactics to allow any competition or truth telling.
TC ,Had forgotten about that.Thanks for jogging my memory.
Michael Towke I do believe.Please correct me if wrong.
Send him as Australian Ambassador to the UK…
or Australian Ambassador to the US…
Chances are that Assange would not be permitted to enter the US in future given the charges he pleaded guilty to in order to gain his freedom.
Haha! Love to see him US or UK ambassador!
This is a victory to press freedoms, however it is not a total fix until the Espionage Act is reformed to include a public interest defense, as the same ordeal could happen to any publisher of leaked classified material, including journalists and media outlets.
How quickly politicians take a different approach to issues when federal elections are on the horizon.
Albanese when first elected as PM had rejected calls to intervene to publicly demand for the United States to drop its prosecution against Julian Assange. His comments were — “there are some people who think that if you put things in capital letters on Twitter and put an exclamation mark, that somehow makes it more important, it doesn’t.”
Albanese also declined to say whether he had spoken to President Biden about the case after the British government ordered Assange’s extradition to the US.
Now that Assange has freedom, everyone who was involved wants to claim the victory, when it was the US government who had the last ruling on his freedom for their own resolve.
The Espionage Act is US law. It has no extraterritoriality application (certainly as far as the limited provisions Assange plead guilty to). US claims that foreigners can breach this law acting outside the US is legal nonsense.
I wonder if whistleblowers in Oz or even worldwide have EVER been supported by the governments of respective countries? I can`t remember a single exposer of corruption who hasn`t been persecuted instead of praised. It says much for the personal courage of those who tried to make the world a better place.
Let’s not forget David McBride tonight? Languishing in a prison because the Australian government chose to ignore it’s obligations to international treaties on war crimes.
Similar to Assange I would say. The end does not justify the means.
BRAVO!
Welcome Home Julian Assange!
All the Best!