WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange arrived at a courtroom on a remote island in the Pacific Ocean ahead of his hearing.
Assange, 52, agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of espionage in exchange for his freedom after five years in a UK prison.
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Assange was seen flying to the US-controlled island of Saipan, near his native Australia, after refusing to set foot on the American mainland.
He was photographed arriving at the US courthouse today in a white SUV, dressed in a tuxedo and tie.
Assange smiled for the cameras as dozens of journalists gathered outside the court to cover the proceedings.
He walked alongside Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd as he entered the building at around 8am local time on Wednesday.
He is expected to plead guilty to conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defense documents.
Assange will be sentenced to 62 months, which he has already served during five years in London’s Belmarsh maximum security prison.
He will then be able to fly back home to his wife, Stella, who he secretly married while behind bars.
Assange signed a plea deal with the US on an espionage charge in exchange for US authorities dropping their demands for his extradition from the UK.
He was originally charged with 18 counts under the US Espionage Act after WikiLeaks published confidential US military records in 2010.
The information included the Collateral Murder video of the Baghdad airstrike, Afghanistan war logs, Iraq war logs and Cablegate.
American prosecutors alleged that Assange put lives at risk by publishing the information online, sparking the long legal battle to extradite him to the US.
Video shared by WikiLeaks on X yesterday showed its founder climbing the steps of a Vista Jet aircraft.
He reportedly signed his plea agreement on June 19 and boarded the £394,000 charter flight from Stansted on Monday.
WikiLeaks launched a fundraising campaign to cover the costs of the flight.
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Assange made video calls to his wife Stella at their home in Australia from the track.
She told the BBC that the couple’s “priority” is to get Julian “healthy again.”
Stella revealed that the WikiLeaks founder has been “in a terrible state for five years.”
The WikiLeaks post added: “After more than five years in a 2×3 meter cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon be reunited with his wife Stella Assange and his children, who only knew their father behind bars.
“WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions.
“As editor-in-chief, Julian paid dearly for these principles and for people’s right to know.
“As we return to Australia, we thank everyone who stood by us, fought for us and remained fully committed to the fight for their freedom. Julian’s freedom is our freedom.”
He has been fighting extradition to the US for more than a decade.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Assange’s case had “dragged on for far too long” and added: “We want him brought home to Australia.”
In 2012, Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador due to fears of political persecution by the United States.
He remained at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for approximately seven years.
Assange fathered two children with lawyer and now wife Stella Morris while living in the Ecuadorian embassy.
He was granted Ecuadorian citizenship in 2018, but asylum was withdrawn after a series of disputes with Ecuadorian authorities in 2019.
Assange was forcibly removed from the embassy and arrested in April 2019.
In May 2019, he was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and ordered to serve 50 weeks in a UK prison.
Chronology of Assange’s legal battle
2006 – Assange founds Wikileaks
April 2010 – Website releases leaked video from a US helicopter allegedly showing an airstrike that killed civilians in Baghdad
July 2010 – WikiLeaks shares more than 91,000 documents
August 2010 – An arrest warrant is issued for Assange on two separate charges, one of rape and the other of sexual abuse, after he visited Sweden for a speaking trip. He is questioned by police in Stockholm and denies the accusations
November 2010 – International arrest warrant issued by Swedish police through Interpol after the court approved a request for detention for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual abuse and unlawful coercion
December 2010 – Assange surrenders to police in London and is detained pending an extradition hearing. Supreme Court grants bail to Assange
February 2011 – A district court in Britain rules that Assange should be extradited to Sweden
June 2012 – Assange enters the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London, seeking asylum, after his attempts to appeal the extradition decision failed. The police have set up a 24-hour guard to arrest him if he leaves the house
August 2012 – Assange receives political asylum from Ecuador
July 2014 – Assange loses his attempt to cancel an arrest warrant issued in Sweden against him. A judge in Stockholm upholds the warrant alleging sexual crimes against two women
March 2015 – Swedish prosecutors ask to interrogate Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy
August 2015 – Swedish prosecutors abandon investigations into some allegations against Assange due to the statute of limitations; an investigation into a rape allegation remains active
October 2015 – Metropolitan Police end their 24-hour guard in front of the Ecuadorian Embassy but say they will arrest Assange if he leaves, ending a three-year police operation estimated to cost millions of dollars
February 2016 – Assange claims full justification when the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concludes that he was unlawfully detained and recommends that he be immediately released and receive compensation. Britain considers the discovery frankly ridiculous
September 2018 – Ecuador’s president says his country and Britain are working on a legal solution to allow Assange to leave the embassy
October 2018 – Assange seeks an injunction pressuring Ecuador to grant him basic rights that he said the country agreed to when it first granted him asylum.
November 2018 – A US court case that appears to inadvertently reveal the existence of a sealed criminal case against Assange is discovered by an investigator. No details have been confirmed
April 2019 – Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno blames WikiLeaks for recent corruption allegations; The Ecuadorian government revokes Assange’s asylum status. London police remove Assange from the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrest him for violating bail conditions in 2012, as well as on behalf of US authorities
May 2019 – Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012.
May 2019 – The US government indicts Assange on 18 counts over the publication of confidential documents by WikiLeaks. Prosecutors say he conspired with Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
November 2019 – Swedish prosecutor drops rape investigation.
May 2020 – An extradition hearing for Assange was postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 2020 – The US brings a new indictment against Assange that prosecutors say highlights Assange’s efforts to obtain and disclose confidential information.
January 2021 – A British judge rules that Assange cannot be extradited to the US because he is likely to kill himself if held under harsh prison conditions in the US.
July 2021 – The High Court grants the US government permission to appeal the lower court’s ruling blocking Assange’s extradition.
December 2021 – The High Court rules that US assurances regarding Assange’s detention are sufficient to ensure that he would be treated humanely.
March 2022 – The British High Court refuses to grant Assange permission to appeal his extradition.
June 2022 – The British government orders the extradition of Assange to the United States. Assange appeals.
May 2023 – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Assange should be released and that his ongoing incarceration serves no purpose.
June 2023 – A High Court judge rules that Assange cannot appeal his extradition.
February 20, 2024 – Assange’s lawyers launch a final legal proposal to prevent his extradition in the High Court.
March 26, 2024 – Two London High Court judges give US authorities three more weeks to provide further assurances, including a guarantee that Assange will not receive the death penalty, before deciding whether to grant him a new appeal against his extradition.
May 20, 2024 – The two High Court judges rule that Assange can file a new appeal based on arguments about whether he will receive free speech protections or be at a disadvantage because he is not a US citizen. The hearing date has not yet been set.
June 24, 2024 – The US Department of Justice says in a letter filed with the court that under an agreement with the agency, Assange will be allowed to go free in exchange for pleading guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose illegally classified national defense information.
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