Julian Assange to Agree to Plea Deal with US, Return Free to Australia

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to accept a plea deal this week with the U.S. Justice Department that will allow him to return free to his home country of Australia.

The Details: Resistant to setting foot in the mainland U.S., Assange will agree to the deal at a U.S. federal court in the Mariana Islands, a commonwealth near Guam. Prosecutors are seeking a 62-month prison sentence, but plan to credit Assange with the 62 months he served in British prison.

For Context: In 2010, Assange was indicted on 18 charges connected to WikiLeaks’ publishing of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military and intelligence documents. From 2012 to 2019, he sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years before his arrest. He has spent the last five years in a high-security British prison, where he has been fighting an extradition request from the U.S. In February, the Australian government called for the release and return of Assange.

Key Quotes: In a statement on X, WikiLeaks wrote, “This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations.”

How The Media Covered It: The story has been widely covered and is still developing as of Tuesday morning. Many outlets are running live coverage of the story.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released from a British prison and was making his way back to his home country Australia on Monday after his 12-year battle against extradition to the United States ended in a plea deal.

The controversial figure has spent the past five years in a high-security UK prison and nearly seven years before that holed up at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, trying to avoid arrest that could have led to life imprisonment.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to one felony charge under the Espionage Act in a plea deal that will allow him to go free from prison and bring to an end a years-long legal saga stemming from his role in one of the largest publications of classified information in U.S. history, according to court documents filed Monday.

Assange will plead guilty to conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate national defense information, under the plea deal, which still must be approved by a judge.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge this week as part of an agreement with the Department of Justice that would allow him to walk free after being imprisoned in the U.K. for five years.