Assange: Plea Deal

Things are happening quickly for Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, today he will enter a Plea agreement at Saipan, Northern Marianas, a US Territory in the Pacific, where the Justice Department will seek a 62 month sentence giving him credit for the amount of time he spent in the UK facility, fighting the extradition to the US. After the court appearance, it’s expected that the US will release Assange back to his home country, Australia as a free man. Julian Assange was born on July 3, 1971 at Townsville, Queensland, Australia. He grew up with his parents, Christine Ann Hawkins and John Shipton, separated before his birth.

Assange's “hacking” career began in his teenage years under the pseudonym "Mendax," He co-founded the hacker group "International Subversives" and engaged in various high-profile hacks, targeting organizations like NASA and the Pentagon. This period of hacking culminated in his arrest in 1991 by the Australian Federal Police, leading to a conviction on 24 charges of hacking and related crimes. However, due to his youth and lack of malicious intent, he received a lenient sentence, which included a fine and good behavior bond.

Assange's experiences as a hacker laid the groundwork for his most significant endeavor: WikiLeaks. Established in 2006, WikiLeaks aimed to promote transparency by publishing classified and censored materials. Assange served as the site's editor-in-chief and spokesperson, quickly gaining international attention for its high-profile releases.

One of WikiLeaks' earliest significant releases was the U.S. Army's classified video, later known as "Collateral Murder," in 2010. The footage depicted a U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed several people, including two Reuters journalists. This release, along with subsequent leaks of U.S. diplomatic cables and Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, thrust Assange into the global spotlight.

Assange's activities with WikiLeaks drew both praise and condemnation. Governments and organizations lauded the transparency and accountability WikiLeaks promoted, while critics accused it of endangering lives and national security. The U.S. government, in particular, sought to prosecute Assange for his role in the leaks, which it argued compromised its intelligence and military operations.

In 2010, Assange faced another significant legal challenge: allegations of sexual misconduct in Sweden. Assange denied the charges, claiming they were politically motivated to facilitate his extradition to the United States. After a prolonged legal battle, he sought asylum in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in June 2012, where he remained confined for nearly seven years.

Assange's asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy became a protracted standoff. During this period, WikiLeaks continued its activities, and Assange's health reportedly deteriorated due to the confined living conditions. In April 2019, following a change in the Ecuadorian government and the withdrawal of asylum, British police arrested Assange. He was subsequently sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching bail conditions related to the Swedish allegations, which had since been dropped.

Following his arrest, Assange faced a renewed legal battle over his extradition to the United States, where he was indicted on multiple charges under the Espionage Act. The charges related to WikiLeaks' publication of classified military and diplomatic documents, accusing Assange of conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer network.

Assange's extradition case sparked a global debate on press freedom, with many arguing that prosecuting him would set a dangerous precedent for journalists and whistleblowers worldwide. In January 2021, a British judge ruled against Assange's extradition to the U.S. on mental health grounds, citing the risk of suicide if he were to be held in harsh prison conditions. However, this decision was later appealed by U.S. authorities, prolonging the legal uncertainty surrounding Assange's fate. And this took us to today’s plea agreement.

Third Party Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy remarked that this release is a great news for Assange and his family given his health conditions but it’s a sharp stab at the Freedom of the Press and rights of Journalists to expose and stand by the truth, “Julian Assange struck a plea deal and will go free! I am overjoyed. He's a generational hero. The bad news is that he had to plea guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense info. Which means the US security state succeeded in criminalizing journalism and extending their jurisdiction globally to non-citizens. Julian had to take this. He has heart problems and he would have died in prison. But the security state has imposed a horrifying precedent and dealt a big blow to freedom of the press.”

Assange Wednesday court appearance in Northern Marianas for the formalization of the plea agreement, and that will be for tomorrow, will end his 12 year saga to defend his rights as a person and as a journalist.