Current:Home > reviewsA look at Julian Assange and how the long-jailed WikiLeaks founder is now on the verge of freedom -SecureNest Finance
A look at Julian Assange and how the long-jailed WikiLeaks founder is now on the verge of freedom
View
Date:2025-04-26 17:17:58
WASHINGTON (AP) — News that the U.S. Justice Department has reached a plea deal that will lead to freedom for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange brings a stunning culmination to a long-running saga of international intrigue that spanned multiple continents. Its central character is a quixotic internet publisher with a profound disdain for government secrets.
A look at Assange, the case and the latest developments:
WHO IS JULIAN ASSANGE?
An Australian editor and publisher, he is best known for having founded the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks, which gained massive attention — and notoriety — for the 2010 release of almost half a million documents relating to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
His activism made him a cause célèbre among press freedom advocates who said his work in exposing U.S. military misconduct in foreign countries made his activities indistinguishable from what traditional journalists are expected to do as part of their jobs.
But those same actions put him in the crosshairs of American prosecutors, who released an indictment in 2019 that accused Assange — holed up at the time in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London — of conspiring with an Army private to illegally obtain and publish sensitive government records.
“Julian Assange is no journalist,” John Demers, the then-top Justice Department national security official, said at the time. “No responsible actor, journalist or otherwise, would purposely publish the names of individuals he or she knew to be confidential human sources in war zones, exposing them to the gravest of dangers.”
WHAT IS ASSANGE ACCUSED OF?
The Trump administration’s Justice Department accused Assange of directing former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history.
The charges relate to WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of leaked military and diplomatic documents, with prosecutors accusing Assange of helping Manning steal classified diplomatic cables that they say endangered national security and of conspiring together to crack a Defense Department password.
Reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq published by Assange included the names of Afghans and Iraqis who provided information to American and coalition forces, prosecutors said, while the diplomatic cables he released exposed journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates and dissidents in repressive countries.
Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison after being convicted of violating the Espionage Act and other offenses for leaking classified government and military documents to WikiLeaks. President Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017, allowing her release after about seven years behind bars.
WHY WASN’T HE ALREADY IN THE CUSTODY OF THE U.S.?
Assange has spent the last five years in a British high-security prison, fighting to avoid extradition to the U.S. and winning favorable court rulings that have delayed any transfer across the Atlantic.
He was evicted in April 2019 from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had sought refuge seven years earlier amid an investigation by Swedish authorities into claims of sexual misconduct that he has long denied and that was later dropped. The South American nation revoked the political asylum following the charges by the U.S. government.
Despite his arrest and imprisonment by British authorities, extradition efforts by the U.S. had stalled prior to the plea deal.
A U.K. judge in 2021 rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts overturned that decision after getting assurances from the U.S. about his treatment. The British government signed an extradition order in June 2022.
Then, last month, two High Court judges ruled that Assange can mount a new appeal based on arguments about whether he will receive free-speech protections or be at a disadvantage because he is not a U.S. citizen. The date of the hearing has yet to be determined.
WHAT WILL THE DEAL REQUIRE?
Assange will have to plead guilty to a felony charge under the Espionage Act of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States, according to a Justice Department letter filed in federal court.
Rather than face the prospect of prison time in the U.S., he is expected to return to Australia after his plea and sentencing. Those proceedings are scheduled for Wednesday morning, local time in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands.
The hearing is taking place there because of Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental U.S. and the court’s proximity to Australia.
On Monday evening, he left a British prison ahead of a court hearing expected to result in his release.
IS THIS CASE CONNECTED TO THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION?
It’s not, but beyond his interactions with Manning, Assange is well-known for the role WikiLeaks played in the 2016 presidential election, when it released a massive tranche of Democratic emails that federal prosecutors say were stolen by Russian intelligence operatives.
The goal, officials have said, was to harm the electoral effort of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and boost her Republican challenger Donald Trump, who famously said during the campaign: “WikiLeaks, I love WikiLeaks.”
Assange was not charged as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia. But the investigation nonetheless painted an unflattering role of WikiLeaks in advancing what prosecutors say was a brazen campaign of Russian election interference.
Assange denied in a Fox News interview that aired in January 2017 that Russians were the source of the hacked emails, though those denials are challenged by a 2018 indictment by Mueller of 12 Russian military intelligence officers.
veryGood! (95)
Related
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- At a Nashville hospital, the agony of not being able to help school shooting victims
- Greening of Building Sector on Track to Deliver Trillions in Savings by 2030
- 'Ghost villages' of the Himalayas foreshadow a changing India
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Sarah Jessica Parker Shares Sweet Tribute to Matthew Broderick for Their 26th Anniversary
- The dream of wiping out polio might need a rethink
- Rover Gas Pipeline Builder Faces Investigation by Federal Regulators
- Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow owns a $3 million Batmobile Tumbler
- How Massachusetts v. EPA Forced the U.S. Government to Take On Climate Change
Ranking
- See you latte: Starbucks plans to cut 30% of its menu
- Q&A: Denis Hayes, Planner of the First Earth Day, Discusses the ‘Virtual’ 50th
- Check Out the Most Surprising Celeb Transformations of the Week
- This Week in Clean Economy: Renewables Industry, Advocates Weigh In on Obama Plan
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Netflix crew's whole boat exploded after back-to-back shark attacks in Hawaii: Like something out of 'Jaws'
- Today's election could weaken conservatives' long-held advantage in Wisconsin
- This Week in Clean Economy: China Is Leading the Race for Clean Energy Jobs
Recommendation
A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
The big squeeze: ACA health insurance has lots of customers, small networks
U.S. appeals court preserves partial access to abortion pill, but with tighter rules
Sydney Sweeney Makes Euphoric Appearance With Fiancé Jonathan Davino in Cannes
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Recovery high schools help kids heal from an addiction and build a future
Dua Lipa and Boyfriend Romain Gavras Make Their Red Carpet Debut as a Couple at Cannes
Tropical Storm Bret strengthens slightly, but no longer forecast as a hurricane