Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been released from a British prison and has arrived in Canberra, Australia, after pleading guilty to violating US espionage law in Saipan, a US Pacific island territory. Assange and the US government reached a plea deal in which he admitted guilt to one criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents. He was sentenced to time served, with no supervisory period or financial penalty [d294c2fa].
Assange's release from prison comes after spending five years in the Belmarsh Prison in London and seven years in self-exile at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. He will now have the opportunity to recover after his 14-year legal saga. His wife, Stella Assange, emphasized the need for privacy to 'let our family be a family' and stated that Assange remains committed to defending human rights and victims. She also called for press unity to push back against the precedent set by his case [d294c2fa, 75fded38].
Assange's lawyer thanked former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the serving Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for their support. Stella Assange asked for privacy to 'let our family be a family.' Assange's UK solicitor Gareth Peirce said the case exposed major fault lines in human rights protections in both the US and UK [d294c2fa].
According to a statement from the US Justice Department, Assange is now banned from returning to the United States without permission. This ban is part of his plea agreement and is in effect unless he is granted permission. Assange was recently freed in a US territory and boarded a plane for Canberra, Australia [38d478e9].
Stella Assange, Julian Assange's wife, visited Australia's Parliament House and expressed her gratitude to Australian lawmakers for their efforts in campaigning for his release. She thanked the Australian people, members of Parliament, and the government for their support. The visit sparked differing opinions among political leaders regarding Julian Assange's welcome in his homeland [20c07b70].
Julian Assange's wife, Stella Assange, urges privacy as her husband returns to Canberra after a 14-year legal battle. She emphasizes Julian's need for recuperation and hopes for a pardon, highlighting the impact of his case on journalism worldwide. Assange's lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, calls for reform of the Espionage Act. Stella Assange points to upcoming legal proceedings as pivotal moments in their ongoing battle. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praises Julian's safe return and their warm conversation. Julian Assange's family plans to campaign for a presidential pardon in the United States and focus on overturning his espionage conviction and safeguarding press freedoms globally [75fded38].
In an opinion piece by Bill Weinberg published on Al Jazeera, it is revealed that a former police investigator from Belarus, Aliaksandr Barankov, was granted asylum by Ecuador in 2010 after being charged with fraud and extortion in his homeland. Barankov claimed the charges were bogus and brought in retribution for exposing a petrol-smuggling ring implicating high officials of President Alexander Lukashenko's regime. In June 2012, Barankov was arrested in Quito and imprisoned while Ecuador's courts reviewed a new extradition request from Lukashenko's government. A rights group is demanding a full accounting from WikiLeaks on claims that it may have actively collaborated with the Belarus dictatorship. Last year, the free-press advocacy group Index on Censorship cited evidence that WikiLeaks' representative in Belarus, Israel Shamir, provided the Lukashenko regime with intelligence from US diplomatic cables to help determine who to round up. Shamir is a notorious and obsessive Anti-Semite. Assange has not publicly weighed in on the Belarus affair. The lack of concern with this question by WikiLeaks' advocates on the left raises questions about a single-standard commitment to human rights. Meanwhile, in Ecuador, the country's indigenous movement accuses President Rafael Correa of hypocrisy in granting asylum to Assange while persecuting indigenous leaders and social strugglers as terrorists [8910536f].