‘Julian Assange is free’: Wikileaks founder to be freed in deal with US

Assange to plead guilty to one charge of espionage and return home to Australia after decades fighting US extradition.

‘Julian Assange is free’: Wikileaks founder to be freed in deal with US | Julian Assange News | Al Jazeera

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange boards a plane at a location given as London, UK, in this still image from video released JUNE 25, 2024 ["@wikileaks" via X/Handout via Reuters]

Published On 25 Jun 202425 Jun 2024

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed from prison in the United Kingdom and is set to travel home to Australia after he pleads guilty to a single charge of breaching the espionage law in the United States.

Assange, 52, will plead guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents, according to a filing in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

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UK ruling on Assange extradition ‘resets the game’. What happens next?

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange wins bid to appeal extradition to US

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UK court to rule on Julian Assange extradition appeal: What could happen?

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‘Bring Julian home’: the Australian campaign to free Assange

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He was freed from the UK’s high-security Belmarsh prison on Monday and taken to the airport whre he flew out of the country. Assange will appear at a court in Saipan, a US Pacific territory at 9am on Wednesday (23:00 GMT on Tuesday) where he will be sentenced to 62 months of time already served.

“Julian Assange is free,” Wikileaks said in a statement posted on X.

“He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after having spent 1901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stanstead airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.”

LIBERTÀ PER JULIAN ASSANGE

LIBERTÀ PER JULIAN ASSANGE

Comitato promotore della campagna #NO GUERRA #NO NATO

Italy

FEB 26, 2020 — 

Si è aperto a Londra il processo contro Julian Assange, che sarà sospeso alla fine della settimana e ripreso a maggio. Occorre la massima mobilitazione per impedire che egli venga estradato negli Stati Uniti, dove lo attende una condanna per spionaggio che prevede l’ergastolo o la pena di morte.

La Campagna per la liberazione di Julian Assange  sarà al centro del Convegno Liberiamoci dalla guerra, che si terrà il 25 Aprile a Firenze. Vi parteciperà John Shipton, il padre di Julian.

Vi invitiamo a venire a Firenze il 25 Aprile per trasmettere, attraverso di lui, tutta la nostra solidarietà a Julian Assange, il cui “crimine” è quello di aver portato alla luce i crimini di guerra Usa. Il processo contro Assange è un processo contro tutti quelli che lottano per la libertà e la democrazia.

Per iscriversi al Convegno comunicare il proprio nome, comune di residenza,  email e/o cellulare, a

Giuseppe Padovano

Email giuseppepadovano.gp@gmail.com

Cell. 393 998 3462

               ====================================

      PERCHÉ ASSANGE È IN PRIGIONE E SOTTO PROCESSO

Julian Assange – nato nel 1971 a Townsville in Australia,  da una artista, Christine Assange, e un architetto, John Shipton –   fonda nel 2006, insieme ad altri, il sito web WikiLeaks, di cui diviene caporedattore.

WikiLeaks nel corso degli anni pubblica documenti da fonti anonime e informazioni segrete su politici corrotti, assassinii politici, repressioni e guerre. Il materiale pubblicato attira sporadicamente l'attenzione dei media, ma è il caso Chelsea Manning  che porta WikiLeaks, nel 2010. al centro dell'interesse internazionale.

Chelsea Manning, attivista statunitense, è accusata di aver fornito a WikiLeaks migliaia di documenti riservati di cui era venuta a conoscenza  lavorando quale analista di intelligence dell’Esercito Usa durante la guerra in Iraq. Viene per questo condannata a 37 anni di detenzione in un carcere di massima sicurezza. Rilasciata dopo 7 anni di carcere duro, sarà nuovamente incarcerata nel 2019 per essersi rifiutata di testimoniare contro Assange. 

Nel 2010 WikiLeaks rende di pubblico dominio oltre 250.000 documenti statunitensi,  molti dei quali etichettati come "confidenziali" o "segreti". Tra questi diversi video sulle stragi di civili compiute dagli Usa in Iraq e Afghanistan. WikiLeaks viene messa sotto inchiesta in Australia e Julian Assange rischia di nuovo l’arresto.

CRAIG MURRAY -- Your Man in the Public Gallery – Assange Hearing Day 2

This afternoon Julian’s Spanish lawyer, Baltasar Garzon, left court to return to Madrid. On the way out he naturally stopped to shake hands with his client, proffering his fingers through the narrow slit in the bulletproof glass cage. Assange half stood to take his lawyer’s hand. The two security guards in the cage with Assange immediately sprang up, putting hands on Julian and forcing him to sit down, preventing the handshake.

That was not by any means the worst thing today, but it is a striking image of the senseless brute force continually used against a man accused of publishing documents. That a man cannot even shake his lawyer’s hand goodbye is against the entire spirit in which the members of the legal system like to pretend the law is practised. I offer that startling moment as encapsulating yesterday’s events in court.

Day 2 proceedings had started with a statement from Edward Fitzgerald, Assange’s QC, that shook us rudely into life. He stated that yesterday, on the first day of trial, Julian had twice been stripped naked and searched, eleven times been handcuffed, and five times been locked up in different holding cells. On top of this, all of his court documents had been taken from him by the prison authorities, including privileged communications between his lawyers and himself, and he had been left with no ability to prepare to participate in today’s proceedings.

Magistrate Baraitser looked at Fitzgerald and stated, in a voice laced with disdain, that he had raised such matters before and she had always replied that she had no jurisdiction over the prison estate. He should take it up with the prison authorities. Fitzgerald remained on his feet, which drew a very definite scowl from Baraitser, and replied that of course they would do that again, but this repeated behaviour by the prison authorities threatened the ability of the defence to prepare. He added that regardless of jurisdiction, in his experience it was common practice for magistrates and judges to pass on comments and requests to the prison service where the conduct of the trial was affected, and that jails normally listened to magistrates sympathetically.

A massive scandal: how Assange, his doctors, lawyers and visitors were all spied on for the U.S.

A massive scandal: how Assange, his doctors, lawyers and visitors were all spied on for the U.S.

La Repubblica has had access to the video and audio recordings of the Spanish company, UC Global, which spied on the WikiLeaks founder, his team of journalists and all of us who visited Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy for the last seven years. Video footage and audio recordings reveal an appalling violation of privacy. All the information gathered by UC Global was sent to US intelligence

by STEFANIA MAURIZI

18 novembre 2019

It sounds like a James Bond movie, but it really happened. Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks journalists and every single lawyer, reporter, politician, artist and physician who visited the founder of WikiLeaks at the Ecuadorian embassy over the last seven years was subjected to systematic espionage. Meetings and conversations were recorded and filmed, and all the information was sent to US intelligence. Sometimes the espionage operations were truly off the wall: at one point spies even planned to steal the diaper of a baby brought to visit Assange inside the embassy. The purpose? To gather the baby's feces and perform a DNA test to establish whether the newborn was a secret son of Julian Assange.

Repubblica has had access to some of the videos, audios and photos. Meetings between the founder of WikiLeaks and his lawyers, medical examinations of Julian Assange, diplomatic encounters of the Ecuadorian ambassador Carlos Abad Ortiz, meetings between Assange and journalists. Everything was spied on.
 

The author of this article found that she was not just filmed, but her phones were screwed open, presumably to obtain the IMEI code that allows uniquely identifying the phone in order to intercept it. Spies also had access to our USB sticks, though at this stage it is not clear if they managed to break the encryption protecting the information stored in the USB flash drives inside our backpacks. These are very serious violations of the confidentiality of journalistic sources, given that our meetings inside the embassy were entirely professional and, as frequent visitors, we were repeatedly registered as "journalists".
 

The most spied upon building on Earth

Diana Johnstone -- Julian Assange: The Lynching of the Charismatic Geek

Julian Assange: The Lynching of the Charismatic Geek

By Diana Johnstone

Global Research, November 04, 2019

Region: Europe

Theme: History, Law and Justice, Police State & Civil Rights

Once upon a time, there was a very bright little boy in Australia who grew up as stranger to conventional society. His mother went from husband to husband, from theater to cult, always on the eccentric margins, while the boy’s natural father was left behind. As an adolescent he found his own world in cyberspace, which offered a field for his insatiable curiosity. As he learned about that great world out there and its secrets, he developed his very own rigorous ethic: his vocation was to search for true facts and share them with the public. Living outside the usual social codes, his moral compass was uninhibited by the usual niceties. Truth was truth, deception was wrong, lies on the part of the powerful should be exposed.

The original sin of Julian Assange was the same as that of Galileo Galilei. Galileo sinned by revealing to the people things the elite already knew or at least surmised, but wished to keep secret from the masses, in order not to shake the people’s faith in the official truth. Assange did the same thing with the formation of WikiLeaks The official version of reality was challenged. All lies should be exposed. By far the most sensitive targets of his wide-ranging reality revelations were the lies, the hypocrisy, the inhuman brutality of the United States in its wars of global hegemony. To Assange, these things were simply wrong.

Julian Assange Está a Ser Assassinado

Julian Assange Está a Ser Assassinado 

Junho 1, 2019

Julian Assange Está a Ser Assassinado

O governo britânico criminoso concordou  assassinar Julian Assange, a mando de Washington, o seu mentor perverso.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/06/no_author/the-unrelenting-state/ 

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O Estado implacável

Por Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/06/no_author/the-unrelenting-state/

Junho 1, 2019

Estamos seriamente preocupados com a condição de saúde de Julian Assange. Ontem, estava demasiado doente para poder comparecer perante o tribunal e o seu advogado sueco, Per Samuelson, encontrou-o num estado em que Julian estava incapaz de estabelecer uma conversa e dar instruções. Há sintomas físicos muito marcados, particularmente uma perda rápida de peso, e tememos que não estejam a ser efectuados esforços, genuínos e suficientes, para a obtenção de um diagnóstico, a fim de  determinar a verdadeira causa.

Durante o ano passado, Julian foi mantido na Embaixada do Equador em condições precárias, muito restritas e cada vez mais opressivas e a sua saúde já estava a deteriorar-se de forma alarmante, antes da sua expulsão e prisão. Uma série de condições, incluindo abcessos dentários, que pode ter consequências muito graves se não forem tratados durante muito tempo e a recusa contínua do governo britânico e, mais tarde, dos equatorianos, de permitir o acesso a cuidados de saúde adequados a um asilado político, foi uma negação cruel e deliberada de direitos humanos básicos.

Confesso que senti um certo alívio pessoal após a sua prisão, porque, pelo menos agora ele receberia tratamento médico adequado. No entanto, percebe-se agora, não haver qualquer intenção de fornecê-lo e, de facto, desde que ele esteve em Belmarsh, os problemas de saúde exacerbaram-se. Testemunhei a cumplicidade do Estado britânico em casos de tortura para saber que esta atitude pode significar mais do que somente uma consequência de negligência não intencional. É extremamente alarmante constatar que, agora, o homem mais lúcido que eu conheço, já não é capaz de manter uma conversa racional.

Não há nenhuma razão aceitável para que Assange precise ser mantido numa instalação de alta segurança destinada a terroristas e infractores violentos. Estamos a ver o motivo por trás da sua longa detenção sem precedentes, para esquivar-se à fiança da polícia quando pediu asilo político. Como prisioneiro condenado, Assange pode ser mantido num regime pior do que se estivesse apenas em prisão preventiva, devido aos procedimentos de extradição. Mesmo que ele estivesse saudável, o acesso aos seus advogados é extremamente restrito e, para um homem que enfrenta grandes processos legais no Reino Unido, nos EUA e na Suécia, é impossível que os seus advogados tenham tempo suficiente para preparar, juntamente com ele, os seus processos adequadamente. Assange está sob as mesmas restrições que são impostas a um condenado. Claro que sabemos, pelo facto de que, três horas após ter sido arrastado da Embaixada do Equador, ele ter sido condenado e sentenciado a uma longa pena de prisão, que o Estado não tem intenção de que os seus advogados se possam preparar.

Perguntei antes e faço-o, agora, novamente: Se fosse uma editora dissidente na Rússia, o que é que a classe política e a comunicação mediática do Reino Unido estariam a dizer sobre ele ter sido arrastado por polícias armados, condenado e sentenciado a prisão por um Juiz sem júri, três horas depois, após uma farsa de um "julgamento" durante o qual o Juiz o insultou e chamou de “narcisista” antes de Assange dizer qualquer coisa em sua defesa? A comunicação mediática ocidental estaria em pé de guerra, se esse caso acontecesse na Rússia. Aqui, eles congratulam-se com esses factos.

A seguir está uma foto de Julian na Embaixada em tempos mais felizes, durante a presidência de Correa, com um grupo de pessoas verdadeiramente surpreendente e forte, cada uma delas com histórias as quais podemos seguir e com elas aprender:

Da esquerda para a direita: Thomas Drake, Coleen Rowley, Julian Assange Elizabeth Murray, Ray McGovern, Nadira, Ann Wright 

Devo acrescentar que,  juntamente com outros dois amigos íntimos,  estou pessoalmente, a tentar ver Julian Assange, mas, como é óbvio, o acesso é extremamente difícil.

Os objectos pessoais de Julian foram apreendidos pelos equatorianos para serem entregues ao governo dos EUA. Incluem não só os computadores, mas os seus documentos legais e médicos. Este é mais um exemplo de uma acção estatal completamente ilegal contra ele. Além do mais, qualquer transferência deve envolver o material roubado que transita fisicamente em Londres, e o governo britânico não está a tomar medidas para impedi-lo, o que é mais um dos múltiplos sinais do grau de coordenação governamental internacional por trás da frágil pretensão de uma acção judicial independente.

Julian está preso há, pelo menos, mais de cinco meses, mesmo com liberdade condicional (que provavelmente vão encontrar uma desculpa para não conceder). Depois, será mantido em prisão preventiva. Portanto, não há necessidade de pressa. A recusa do tribunal sueco, de atrasar uma audiência sobre um possível mandado de extradição, para permitir que Julian se recupere para poder instruir o advogado e o breve adiamento da audiência de extradição dos EUA em Londres, com a intimação que pode ser mantido dentro da prisão de Belmarsh, se Julian estiver demasiado doente para se deslocar, são exemplos de uma pressa totalmente desacostumada e desnecessária, na maneira como o caso está a prosseguir. Os moinhos de Deus moem devagar; os do Diabo parecem girar a alta velocidade.

Finalmente, para os que ainda acreditam que as acções judiciais contra Julian,  não só na Suécia, são de alguma forma motivadas por uma preocupação em que a justiça seja feita, particularmente os casos de justiça referente a mulheres violadas, peço-lhes que leiam este excelente relato de Jonathan Cook. Quanto ao resumo da série verdadeiramente impressionante de abusos legais por parte dos Estados contra Assange, que a comunicação mediática empresarial e estatal distorceu e escondeu deliberadamente durante uma década, o mesmo não pode ser melhorado.

Julian Assange Is Being Murdered

Julian Assange Is Being Murdered

June 1, 2019

Julian Assange Is Being Murdered

The criminal British government has agreed to assassinate Julian Assange for its criminal Washington master

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/06/no_author/the-unrelenting-state/ 

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The Unrelenting State

By Craig Murray
CraigMurray.org.uk

June 1, 2019

We are seriously worried about the condition of Julian Assange. He was too unwell to appear in court yesterday, and his Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, found him in a state where he was unable to conduct a conversation and give instructions. There are very definite physical symptoms, particularly rapid weight loss, and we are not satisfied that genuine and sufficient diagnostic efforts are being made to determine the underlying cause.

Julian had been held for the last year in poor, highly confining and increasingly oppressive conditions in the Ecuadorean Embassy and his health was already deteriorating alarmingly before his expulsion and arrest. A number of conditions, including dental abcesses, can have very serious consequences if long term untreated, and the continual refusal by the British government and latterly the Ecuadoreans to permit him access to adequate healthcare while a political asylee was a callous denial of basic human rights.

I confess to feeling an amount of personal relief after his arrest that at least he would now get proper medical treatment. However there now seems to be no intention to provide that and indeed since he has been in Belmarsh his health problems have accelerated. I witnessed enough of the British state’s complicity in torture to know that this may be more than just the consequence of unintended neglect. That the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.

There is no rational reason that Assange needs to be kept in a high security facility for terrorists and violent offenders. We are seeing the motive behind his unprecedented lengthy imprisonment for jumping police bail when he entered political asylum. As a convicted prisoner, Assange can be kept in a worse regime than if he were merely on remand for his extradition proceedings. In particular, his access to his lawyers is extremely restricted and for a man facing major legal proceedings in the UK, USA and Sweden it is impossible, even were he healthy, for his lawyers to have sufficient time with him adequately to prepare his cases while he is under the restrictions placed on a convict. Of course we know from the fact that, within three hours of being dragged from the Ecuadorean Embassy, he was already convicted and sentenced to a lengthy prison term, that the state has no intention that his lawyers should be able to prepare.

I have asked before and I ask again. If this were a dissident publisher in Russia, what would the UK political and media class be saying about his being dragged out by armed police, and convicted and sentenced to jail by a judge without a jury, just three hours later, after a farce of a “trial” in which the judge insulted him and called him a “narcissist” before he had said anything in his defence? The Western media would be up in arms if that happened in Russia. Here, they cheer it on.

Below is a photo of Julian in the Embassy in happier times, during the Correa Presidency, with a truly amazing and strong group of people, every one of whose stories we can follow and learn from:

Left to Right: Thomas Drake, Coleen Rowley, Julian Assange, Elizabeth Murray, Ray McGovern, Nadira, Ann Wright

I should add that I am currently trying to see Julian personally with two other close friends, but obviously access is extremely difficult.

 Julian’s personal possessions have been seized by the Ecuadoreans to be given to the US government. These include not only computers but his legal and medical papers. This is yet another example of completely illegal state action against him. Furthermore, any transfer must involve the stolen material physically transiting London, and the British government is taking no steps to prevent that, which is yet another of multiple signs of the degree of international governmental coordination behind the flimsy pretence of independent judicial action.

Julian is imprisoned for at least another five months, even with parole (which they will probably find an excuse not to grant). After that he will be held further on remand. There is therefore no need for rush. The refusal of the Swedish court to delay a hearing on a potential extradition warrant at all, to allow Julian to recover to the extent he can instruct his lawyer, and the very brief postponement of the US extradition hearing in London, with the intimation it may be held inside Belmarsh prison if Julian is too unwell to move, are both examples of an entirely unaccustomed and unnecessary haste with which the case is being rushed forward. The mills of God grind slowly; those of the Devil seem to spin dangerously fast.

Finally, for those who still believe that actions against Julian, particularly but not only in Sweden, are in any way motivated by a concern for justice, particularly justice for violated women, I do urge you to read this excellent account by Jonathan Cook. As a summary of the truly breathtaking series of legal abuses by states against Assange, that the corporate and state media has been deliberately distorting and hiding for a decade, it cannot be bettered.

Reprinted with the author’s permission.

Copyright © 2019 Craig Murray

Free Julian Assange, before it's too late.

Special Petition Notice 16; "TheProject" over 16,000 signatures

Phillip Adams

Brisbane, Australia

NOV 25, 2018 — 

Hi All,

I hope you are all well.

The petition is moving very well and securing excellent numbers.

We are really making an impact in more ways than 1. The spin off from this petition are not only being felt in houses of government but also in media rooms and celebrity circles. This petition and our demands to free Julian Assange will become a Global Movement. there is no turning back now. We will free Julian Assange.

We not only have the power of Democracy on our side, but honestly and in my opinion we also have the Law on our side.

Tonight and in a little under 2 hours our great champion of the Free Julian Assange Movement Pamela Anderson will be on Chanel 10 Australia's program "The Project". That is why I delivered th especial notice on a Sunday. The Project 6:30pm AEST 25-11-2018 Chanel 10 Australia (Brisbane Australian Time)

I personally will watch that program, because all PR from Pamela Anderson is Good PR  towards Freeing Julian Assange.

Pasted below is the script from Special Petition Notice 16 'The Project'