Julian Assange has landed in Australia after being freed by a US federal court, concluding more than a decade of legal wrangling between Washington and the WikiLeaks founder accused of espionage over a landmark intelligence leak.
The Australian citizen returned on a flight from the US Pacific island of Saipan after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one charge of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate classified information linked to US national defence, under an agreement with the US department of justice.
Mr Assange raised his fist and gave a thumbs up as he emerged from a private jet at Canberra airport on Wednesday night. Anthony Albanese, Australia’s prime minister, said Mr Assange had described his return in a phone call on the plane as a “surreal and happy moment”. Mr Albanese had “saved his life”, Mr Assange added.
He was sentenced to 62 months in prison, roughly equivalent to the time he already served in a UK jail while fighting extradition to the US, and prosecutors were not seeking additional imprisonment.
Prosecutors have not sought additional imprisonment, bringing to a close the legal saga over WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of thousands of classified US military documents.
“Today is a historic day ... Julian Assange can go home a free man,” said Jennifer Robinson, his lead lawyer, adding that she hoped the resolution “against all odds and against one of the most powerful governments in the world will give hope to all journalists and publishers who are in prison”.
John Shipton, Mr Assange’s father, told the Financial Times on the sidelines of a press conference in Canberra that progress was made towards releasing his son after Australia forged closer ties with the US and UK. “Once it became a matter of state interest between the US, the UK and Australia the nature of relations changed entirely,” he said.
Mr Assange had faced as many as 18 charges over what prosecutors described as one of the biggest leaks of classified material in US history. Washington has long maintained that intelligence operatives’ lives were endangered by the disclosure of military documents, a claim Mr Assange’s lawyers have disputed.
His supporters have hailed Mr Assange as a defender of free press and praised WikiLeaks’ efforts to shed light on secretive and powerful organisations, including governments and companies.
Mr Albanese admitted that Mr Assange remained a divisive figure in Australia and did not condone his behaviour, but argued that his return was long overdue.
“There are a range of views about the actions of Assange. The Australian government feels strongly that the proper protection of all national security information is vital for safety. But ... there is nothing to be gained by the further incarceration of Mr Assange. And we wanted him home. Tonight that has happened,” Mr Albanese said.
Mr Assange did not appear at the press conference as had been anticipated. His wife Stella Assange said that the WikiLeaks founder would take his time before speaking about his ordeal.
The proceedings on Wednesday were held in Saipan, a US commonwealth north of Guam in the Northern Mariana Islands, because Mr Assange resisted holding the hearings in continental US and because of its proximity to his home country.
Mr Assange (52), arrived at court alongside Kevin Rudd, Australia’s ambassador to the US and a former prime minister, and declined to take questions from reporters. Stephen Smith, the Australian high commissioner to the UK, who accompanied Mr Assange on the plane after his release from Belmarsh high-security prison in London on Monday, also attended the plea hearing.
Mr Shipton earlier told Australian broadcaster ABC that he was “doing cartwheels” over the prospect of his son’s return and praised Australia’s politicians and officials, including Mr Rudd, for the campaign to strike a deal with the US justice department and the White House.
Mr Shipton also said the Australian public had a “profound influence” on the long-running case’s resolution.
Mr Assange had spent five years in Belmarsh prison after he was arrested in 2019 at Ecuador’s embassy in London, where he had spent seven years evading arrest over a rape investigation in Sweden. Ecuador had granted him asylum status but later revoked its protection.
Other charges against Mr Assange related to the leak have been dropped. As part of the plea agreement, Mr Assange will be prohibited from entering the US, the justice department said. Campaigners will now try to secure a presidential pardon.
The US case stemmed from WikiLeaks’ publication of military and secret documents leaked by Chelsea Manning, the former US army intelligence analyst who copied hundreds of thousands of military incident logs and about 250,000 diplomatic cables while serving in Iraq.
Manning was charged and convicted of espionage. Her 35-year prison sentence was commuted by then-president Barack Obama shortly before he left the White House in 2017.
Barry Pollock, Mr Assange’s chief US lawyer, called his prosecution “unprecedented in 100 years of the Espionage Act”, adding that he hoped it would be “the first and last time” that journalists were pursued in such a way.
Mr Assange will remain “a powerful voice and a voice that should not be silenced”, he said. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024