Julian Assange stops in Bangkok on the way to US court to be released

A plane carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange landed in Bangkok on Tuesday, as part of a trip in which he is expected to plead guilty to the US government. This action would free him and resolve a court case that has spanned several years and different continents after the publication of a batch of classified documents.

The leased plane VJT199 landed after noon at Don Mueang International Airport, north of the Thai capital. It was unclear whether the plane would only stop to refuel, or how Assange would continue his journey to Saipan, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States located in the western Pacific, where he is expected to appear in court. on Wednesday morning.

He was scheduled to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information under the Espionage Act, according to a letter from the US Department of Justice submitted to the court.

Assange is expected to return to his native Australia following his plea and sentencing. The hearing will be held in Saipan due to Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States and the court’s proximity to Australia.

The guilty plea, which must be approved by a judge, brings to a sudden end a criminal case of international intrigue and the US government’s years-long persecution of a publisher whose popular news-sharing website Secret information made him an idol for many press freedom advocates who claimed that he acted as a journalist to expose crimes committed by the United States military.

Investigators, by contrast, have repeatedly asserted that their actions violated laws meant to protect sensitive information and endangered U.S. national security.

Assange’s lawyers have not responded to a request for comment.

In a statement posted on X, WikiLeaks said Assange boarded a plane and left Britain on Monday after being released from a British prison. WikiLeaks welcomed the announcement of the agreement, saying it was grateful for “everyone who stood by us, fought for us, and remained fully committed to the fight for their freedom.”

“WikiLeaks published untold stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful to account for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid heavily for these principles and for people’s right to know,” WikiLeaks said.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has campaigned for the United States to abandon its legal campaign against Assange, told parliament that an Australian envoy had flown with Assange from London.

“Regardless of the opinion that people have about Mr. Assange’s activity, the case has dragged on too long. His continued incarceration adds nothing and we want him back in Australia,” Albanese added.

The agreement guarantees that Assange will admit his guilt, while freeing him from any additional prison sentence. He spent years sheltering in the Ecuadorian embassy in London after Swedish authorities called for his arrest over rape allegations before he was detained in the UK.

Assange is expected to be sentenced to the five years he has already spent in a high-security British prison, where he has also fought to avoid extradition to the United States to face charges, a process that has unfolded in a series of hearings in London.

Last month, Assange won the right to appeal an extradition order after his lawyers argued that the US government had given “manifestly inadequate” assurances that he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from the UK.

Assange has been hailed by many around the world as a hero who revealed military crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among the files published by WikiLeaks was a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by US forces in Baghdad, which killed 11 people, including two journalists from Reuters.

However, her reputation was tarnished by rape allegations, which she has denied.

The Justice Department indictment unsealed in 2019 accused Assange of encouraging and assisting U.S. military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic dispatches and military files that WikiLeaks published in 2010. Prosecutors accused Assange of harming national security by publishing documents that harmed the United States and its allies and assisted its adversaries.

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