Julian Assange has been freed, but why is the Wikileaks founder flying to the remote Pacific island of Saipan?

SIDNEY:

Julian Assange is on his way to court on the Pacific island of Saipan, where he is expected to plead guilty on Wednesday to a single criminal charge in a plea deal that will see him released and returned home to Australia after a 14 year old legal odyssey. .

WHERE IS SAIPAN?

Saipan is the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands (NMI), a U.S. commonwealth in the western Pacific that begins about 70 kilometers (44 miles) north of Guam and spans 14 islands.

Like territories like Guam or Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands are part of the US without full statehood. Residents are US citizens but cannot vote in presidential elections. Crucially, some, like Saipan, also host US district courts.

Assange will appear in court at 9am local time on Wednesday (11pm GMT Tuesday).

WHY DOES ASSANGE GO THERE?

US prosecutors said Assange wanted to go to court near his home in Australia but not in the continental United States.

Saipan has the advantage of being relatively close to Assange’s home in Australia, about 3,000 km (1,800 miles) to the south. Hawaii is twice as far.

“He has to face the charges brought under US law,” said Emily Crawford, a professor at the University of Sydney’s law school.

“It had to be US territory, but it had to be the closest US territory to Australia that wasn’t a US state like Hawaii.”

SAIPAN AND THE UNITED STATES

After some time as a colony of Spain, Germany and then Japan, the United States took control of the island in World War II, following the Battle of Saipan in 1944.

After decades under US control, residents voted in 1975 to join the United States as a territory.

The Northern Mariana Islands elected a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in 2008, but the delegate does not have a vote in Congress.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

US prosecutors said Assange agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents. He will be sentenced to 62 months of time he has already served. If the judge approves his appeal, Assange is expected to return to Australia after the hearing, US prosecutors said.

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