U.S Plea Deal Could Free ‘WikiLeaks’ Founder Julian Assange

In a major development, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may soon see the end of his long-standing legal battles. According to recent reports, the United States government is considering offering Assange a plea deal that would allow him to avoid extradition and potentially walk free.

Julian Assange was released from a high-security British prison on Monday, where he had been held for five years while fighting extradition to the United States. He traveled to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific, where he is expected to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defense information. This deal would significantly reduce his sentence.

Assange’s wife, Stella, confirmed that he would become a “free man” once a judge signs off on the plea deal. She expressed her elation and thanked supporters who have campaigned for his release for years. “We weren’t really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening,” she told BBC radio​​.

Assange’s charter plane landed in Bangkok for a scheduled refueling stop before heading to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, where he is due in court on Wednesday morning. He is expected to be sentenced to five years and two months in prison, with credit for the time he has already spent in British custody​​.

The court in the Northern Mariana Islands was chosen due to Assange’s unwillingness to go to the continental United States and its proximity to his native Australia. Under the plea deal, Assange is expected to return to Australia, where the government has stated that his case had “dragged on for too long” and that there was “nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration”​​.

The United Nations welcomed Assange’s release, acknowledging the human rights concerns raised by his case. Assange’s mother, Christine, expressed her gratitude that her son’s ordeal was finally coming to an end. However, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence criticized the plea deal as a “miscarriage of justice”​.

Assange has been wanted by Washington for releasing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. documents through WikiLeaks in 2010. His supporters view him as a hero for free speech, while critics argue that he endangered lives and compromised national security. He faced 18 charges in the U.S., including espionage, and was indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in 2019​​.

The potential plea deal marks a significant step towards resolving one of the most high-profile legal battles in recent history. If successful, it would allow Assange to return to Australia and continue his work without the threat of extradition to the United States.