Explainer: Julian Assange's Deal With US Government, Set to Walk Free

Assange, 52, entered the plea in a US District Court hearing in Saipan on the Northern Mariana Islands, a US-controlled territory chosen due to his refusal to travel to the mainland United States and its proximity to his native Australia.

Who is Julian Assange?

Assange was born in 1971 in Townsville, Queensland, Australia. His early interest in computers led him to become one of Australia's most skilled hackers by the early 1990s. In 2006, he founded WikiLeaks, an organization dedicated to publishing leaked information. WikiLeaks gained global prominence in 2010 after releasing a series of leaks provided by Chelsea Manning, a former U.S. Army soldier. These leaks included a video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.

Assange's actions through WikiLeaks sparked a U.S. criminal investigation. Manning was eventually convicted and jailed for the leaks, although her sentence was later commuted. WikiLeaks continued to publish sensitive documents, including over 250,000 U.S. diplomatic cables in November 2010 and Democratic Party emails in 2016, which U.S. prosecutors attributed to Russian intelligence.

In 2010, Swedish authorities issued an arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of sexual assault. To avoid extradition to Sweden, and potentially to the US, Assange sought asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012, where he remained for almost seven years. His relationship with the Ecuadorian government soured over time which led to the withdrawal of his asylum status in 2019. UK police arrested Assange, and he was subsequently imprisoned for breaching bail conditions and in connection with the US extradition request.

During his time in the Ecuadorian Embassy and later in a UK prison, Assange's physical and mental health reportedly declined. His supporters argued that his prolonged detention was unjust and detrimental to his well-being. In 2021, a UK court ruled that Assange could be extradited to the US, but he was granted the right to appeal.

In February 2024, the Australian parliament passed a motion urging the US and UK to allow Assange to return to his home country. This was followed by a development in May 2024 when the UK High Court allowed Assange to mount a new appeal against his extradition.

What Plea Deal Has the U.S. Offered Julian Assange?

Originally, Assange faced 18 charges related to the acquisition and dissemination of military and intelligence leaks, with a potential sentence of up to 175 years in prison. Under the plea deal, the U.S. has dropped 17 of these charges, significantly reducing the legal jeopardy Assange faces.

Assange has pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information. This charge acknowledges Assange's role in working with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to publish classified documents, including those detailing U.S. military operations and diplomatic communications.

As part of the plea agreement, prosecutors have recommended a sentence of five years. Importantly, the time Assange has already served in a British prison will count towards this sentence. Given that he has been in detention for nearly five years, this effectively means he will be released shortly after the formal sentencing.

Assange's guilty plea was entered in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the western Pacific. This location was chosen due to Assange's opposition to traveling to the U.S. mainland and its relative proximity to Australia, Assange's home country. This arrangement was also made to accommodate Assange's concerns about potential security and logistical issues involved in traveling to the U.S.

Following the approval of the guilty plea by the judge, Assange is expected to return to Australia.

While the plea deal has been agreed upon by the parties involved, it still requires approval from the presiding judge in the Northern Mariana Islands. Given the terms of the deal and the time Assange has already served, it is widely expected that the judge will approve the agreement.

Charges Against Julian Assange

Assange has faced multiple charges brought by the United States, primarily under the Espionage Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA).

Assange faced several counts under the Espionage Act for obtaining and publishing classified documents related to national defence. These documents included U.S. military reports from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and U.S. State Department diplomatic cables.

Initially, Assange was charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion in April 2019. However, in May 2019, a superseding indictment added 17 additional charges under the Espionage Act. These charges relate to the unauthorized obtaining and disclosing of national defence information.

These 17 charges are now dropped with the deal.