WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to plead guilty in espionage act case in US court, will be freed from prison

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US Justice Department, according to court documents filed on Monday night. This plea deal aims to resolve a protracted legal battle involving multiple countries over the release of classified information. Assange will plead guilty to conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information under the Espionage Act.

Court Appearance in the Mariana Islands

Assange will appear in the federal court located in the Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Western Pacific, to enter his plea. This location was chosen due to Assange's unwillingness to travel to the continental US and the court's proximity to Australia. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday morning in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands.

Implications of the Plea Deal

The plea deal ensures Assange's release from prison and allows him to return to Australia. Assange has spent years in various forms of detention, including house arrest, seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, and time in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in the UK. Stella Assange, his wife, stated, "Every day since the seventh of December 2010 he has been in one form of detention or another."

Background and Legal Struggles

Assange's legal issues began in 2010 when he was arrested in Britain on a Swedish warrant over sex crime allegations, which were later dropped. WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which were among the most significant security breaches in US military history. In 2010, WikiLeaks also released a classified video showing a 2007 US helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed 12 people, including two Reuters journalists.

Controversial Figure

Assange has been a polarizing figure. His publication of classified documents has made him a celebrated figure among press freedom advocates who argue he acted as a journalist to uncover US military misconduct. However, investigators have consistently maintained that his actions violated laws designed to safeguard sensitive information and compromised national security. "The case was lambasted by press advocates and Assange supporters," but federal prosecutors defended it as targeting conduct beyond that of a journalist gathering information.

US Government's Position

The Justice Department's indictment unsealed in 2019 accused Assange of encouraging and helping US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published in 2010. Prosecutors alleged that Assange damaged national security by publishing documents that harmed the US and its allies and aided its adversaries. The plea agreement comes months after President Joe Biden said he was considering a request from Australia to drop the US push to prosecute Assange.

Assange's International Headlines

Assange made headlines in 2016 after WikiLeaks published Democratic emails that prosecutors say were stolen by Russian intelligence operatives. He was never charged in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, but the inquiry revealed the role that the hacking operation played in interfering in that year's election on behalf of then-Republican candidate Donald Trump. Justice Department officials considered charges for Assange following the 2010 document publication but were unsure a case would hold up in court and were concerned about justifying prosecuting him for actions similar to those of a conventional journalist.

Shift in US Administration Stance

The stance of the US administration shifted in 2017 when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions called Assange's arrest a priority. Assange's family and supporters have said his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, including seven years spent inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum after courts in England ruled he should be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation. He was arrested by British police after Ecuador's government withdrew his asylum status in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail when he first took shelter inside the embassy. Although Sweden eventually dropped its sex crimes investigation, Assange has remained in Belmarsh Prison during the extradition battle with the US.

(With inputs from AP)