WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to return to Australia after his court appearance in the US Pacific territory.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty in a Saipan court to a single charge of espionage as part of a deal with the United States Justice Department that will free him to return to his native Australia.
Assange, 52, admitted a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents on Wednesday morning in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a US commonwealth territory in the Western Pacific.
The Australian smiled as he arrived at court in a dark suit, with his tie loosened around the collar, after flying from the United Kingdom on a private aircraft accompanied by members of his legal team and Australian officials. Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd, a former prime minister, was with him, amid a throng of journalists and photographers.
Inside, Assange answered basic questions from US District Judge Ramona Manglona, and appeared to listen intently as terms of the deal were discussed.
Addressing the court, he said that he believed the Espionage Act under which he was charged contradicted First Amendment rights in the US Constitution, but that he accepted that encouraging sources to provide classified information for publication could be unlawful.
As a condition of his plea, he will be required to destroy information that was provided to WikiLeaks.
Saipan was chosen for the court appearance due to Assange’s opposition to travelling to the mainland US as well as its proximity to his home in Australia, prosecutors said.
Shortly after Assange’s guilty plea, Wikileaks shared the flight schedule for his onward flight showing the aircraft arriving in Canberra in Australia at 6.41pm (08:41 GMT).
NOW: Julian Assange has arrived on US territory at Saipan Island to formalise the plea deal that should never have had to happen. #AssangeJet pic.twitter.com/Q0Lqaaeye8
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 25, 2024
Assange is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served in prison in the United Kingdom during the hearing.
Al Jazeera’s Sarah Clarke, reporting from Brisbane, Australia, said Assange’s much-anticipated court appearance on Saipan, which is about 3,000km (1,865 miles) from Australia, was the closest he has been to his home country in more than a decade.
“The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has long said that this saga has dragged on for too long… and it’s time for Assange to come home and that journey begins today,” she said.
The court appearance and expected freeing of Assange represent the final chapter in a more than decade-long legal odyssey over the fate of the computer expert, whose hugely popular secret-sharing website WikiLeaks made him a cause célèbre among press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose US military wrongdoing.
Assange spent more than five years in a UK high-security jail and seven years inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London as he fought accusations of sex crimes in Sweden and battled extradition to the US, where he faced 18 criminal charges.
Assange’s supporters view him as a victim because he exposed US military crimes in its conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington has said the release of the secret documents put lives in danger.
Australian governments have been advocating for Assange’s release and had raised the issue with the US several times.
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