Assange to Be Freed From Prison After Reaching Plea Deal With U.S.

AP Photo/Matt Dunham

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will be released from prison as part of a plea deal with the United States, it was revealed on Monday.

The award-winning journalist – who has spent the past five years in London’s notorious, maximum-security Belmarsh Prison – will plead guilty to violating the Espionage Act, according to court documents, and will not spend any time in prison in the US.

Assange – an Australian citizen, who has never lived in the United States – will appear in court on the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, and is expected to return to Australia following his release from prison.

Assange has been incarcerated in Belmarsh Prison since 2019, when he was arrested by British police from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been seeking asylum since 2012.

Former US Secretary of State and CIA Director Mike Pompeo ramped up the prosecution against Assange during former President Donald Trump’s administration, labeling WikiLeaks “a non-state hostile intelligence service.”

Pompeo and other senior CIA officials reportedly even discussed plans for abducting and assassinating Assange – plans Pompeo denied – and were also accused of surveilling journalists and lawyers who met with the WikiLeaks founder in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

In November 2022, Pompeo was caught on camera being served papers for a lawsuit over the surveillance of Assange’s visitors.