A plane carrying Julian Assange landed in Bangkok for refueling on the way to Saipana US Pacific community where the WikiLeaks founder will appear in federal court on Wednesday, following a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors.
Assange is expected to plead guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disseminate national defense information. In exchange for his plea, Assange will be allowed to return to his home country of Australia without serving any additional prison time.
“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks said in a post on X. The editor added that he “paid dearly” for exposing “government corruption and human rights abuses.”
Assange had been wanted by US authorities since 2010, after WikiLeaks published one of the biggest leaks of confidential US government documents and videos in history. The leaks were related to the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
In 2012, he took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after the United Kingdom government ordered his extradition to Sweden over separate sexual assault charges he faced in the country. Assange’s lawyers sought assurances that Sweden would not extradite him to the US, citing concerns that he could face the death penalty and would not have free speech protections as a US citizen.
In 2015, the Swedish government dropped the sexual assault case, stating that the statute of limitations had passed. However, the US charges remained in place and Assange continued to remain in the Ecuadorian embassy until 2019, when the Ecuadorian government revoked her asylum. He was later arrested by British authorities and held in a British prison until 2024, when the plea deal with the US government was reached.
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Assange’s defenders say images and cables released by WikiLeaks with the help of former US Army soldier Chelsea Manning revealed possible war crimes committed by the US military in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that publishing them was an act of public service.
“He should never have spent a single day deprived of his liberty for publishing information in the public interest,” said Rebecca Vincent, campaigns director for Reporters Without Borders, in a statement. “Nothing can undo the last 13 years, but it is never too late to do the right thing and we welcome this move by the US government,” she added.
Assange’s detractors, however, say the leaks put US national security at risk. “Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in times of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said former Vice President Mike Pence. wrote in a post on X.
Australian leaders cautiously welcomed the US plea deal. “Regardless of what people think about Mr. Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained from his continued incarceration and we want him to be brought home to Australia,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told Parliament.
In 2017, Manning’s 35-year sentence was commuted by President Barack Obama. She was accused and convicted of espionage in 2013.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
