Key events
Plane thought to be carrying Assange lands in Thailand
The plane thought to be carrying Assange, on his way to enter a plea deal in a US court in the Northern Mariana Islands, has just landed in Bangkok, according to online tracker FlightRadar.
Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong has delivered a statement on the release of Julian Assange today, and spoke about the advocacy of the current government to secure the release of the Wikileaks founder.
The prime minister and I have been very clear – Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long.
Over the last two years, the Albanese government has advocated for him to come home. That advocacy has been led by the prime minister and the prime minister has been very clear about the priority here he … gives to the Assange case …
The prime minister has led these efforts and has personally raised this – Mr Assange’s case – at the most senior levels, including with [US] president [Joe] Biden and [UK] prime minister [Rishi] Sunak … I know that there are many around the world and in Australia who have passionately advocated for Mr Assange … we have consistently stated that there is nothing to be served by the ongoing incarceration of Mr Julian Assange.
My colleague Jonathan Yerushalmy has written this very helpful explainer to catch you up on the Assange saga. Including this:
Why has he been released?
For the past five years, Assange has been imprisoned in a high-security prison in south London where he has been denied bail on the grounds that he is deemed to be a flight risk. Throughout this time, his family and supporters say his physical and mental health has been declining.
In 2021, a UK court said that Assange could be extradited to the US, but earlier this year he won the right to appeal that verdict.
In February, the Australian parliament passed a motion that called on the US and UK governments to allow Assange to return to his native country. Then in April, the US president, Joe Biden, said he was considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution against Assange.
Although its unclear why he has been released now, Assange’s family – including his mother – said on Tuesday that the end of his “ordeal” was down to “quiet diplomacy”, while his father thanked the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese.
What’s in the deal?
Assange is scheduled to appear in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the western Pacific, where he is expected to plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information. The extradition request is expected to be dropped and Assange won’t face any other charges.
The hearing is taking place in the Northern Mariana Islands because of Assange’s opposition to travelling to the US mainland and the court’s proximity to Australia.
Prosecutors have agreed to a sentence of five years, but have said the time already served in a British prison will count towards this. This means that he will probably walk free after the sentencing.
The guilty plea must still be approved by a judge, but if it is, he is expected to return to Australia after the sentencing.
John Shipton, Assange’s father, told Australian media on Tuesday that it appears “Julian will be able to enjoy an ordinary life with his family and his wife, Stella”.
Read the full explainer here:
‘We want him brought home to Australia’, says Albanese
Hi, this is Kate Lyons, I’m taking over the blog for the next while.
The Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese has been asked a question about Assange in parliament and whether today’s developments meant he was “finally coming home”.
Albanese and his cabinet supported a parliamentary motion put forward by independent MP Andrew Wilkie earlier this year, urging the UK and US to allow Assange to return home to Australia.
He said today in parliament:
The government is certainly aware that Julian Assange has legal proceedings scheduled in the US… Given these proceedings are ongoing it is not appropriate to provide further details comment. I will say the Australian Government has continued to provide consular assistance to Julian Assange through the UK high commissioner, Stephen Smith, who travelled with Julian Assange when he left the UK, and US Ambassador Kevin Rudd who is also providing important assistance.
I have been a very clear as both the Labor leader and opposition but also as prime minister that regardless of the views that people have about Julian Assange and his activities, the case has dragged on for too long, there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.
We have engaged and advocated Australia’s interest using all appropriate channels to support a positive outcome and I have done that since very early on in my prime ministership.
I will have more to say when these legal proceedings have concluded, which I hope will be very soon and I will report as appropriate at that time.
Full video statements from Stella Assange and Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson here:
The private charter flight carrying Assange will stop in Bangkok to refuel before carrying on to Saipan, a Thai official has told AFP.
Assange’s plane left London on Monday evening, local time, and is expected to reach Bangkok within a few hours from now. A flight matching some known elements of his travel is currently one of the top five most tracked flights on flightradar, but the Guardian has not confirmed it is the plane carrying Assange.
The Thai official, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the plane will land shortly before midday Tuesday (0450 GMT) to refuel, and will depart about nine hours later (1400 GMT).
It’s a journey of about six hours to Saipan, according to online flight maps. Assange is scheduled to appear in court at 9am Wednesday local time (2300 Tuesday GMT).
A full report here on the relief and other reactions of Assange’s family, by Guardian Australia’s foreign affairs correspondent, Daniel Hurst.
Julian Assange’s mother says she is grateful her son’s “ordeal is finally coming to an end” after the Australian citizen was released from jail in the UK to seal a US plea deal. Assange’s father described the breakthrough as “wonderful” and “energising”.
Assange’s release has not been welcomed by all.
The former US vice president, Mike Pence, has called the apparent plea deal a “miscarriage of justice” which “dishonours” US troops. His full statement, posted on X a short time ago:
Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The Biden administration’s plea deal with Assange is a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families. There should be no plea deals to avoid prison for anyone that endangers the security of our military or the national security of the United States. Ever.”
Hello, this is Helen Davidson taking over from Helen Sullivan for the next few hours.
Assange’s release is a victory for him and his many supporters around the world, but not necessarily a clear win for the principle underlying his defence, the freedom of the press, writes Julian Borger, the Guardian’s world affairs editor.
US prosecutors argued that Assange was not a proper journalist, but a hacker and an activist with his own agenda, who endangered the lives of US sources and contacts, so the Espionage Act could be applied without harming press freedom.
But press and civil liberties advocates took the view that it was irrelevant how Assange was defined. The things he was accused of doing, “obtaining and disseminating classified information”, are what national security journalists do for a living.
The revelations WikiLeaks published about the Iraq and Afghan wars in 2010, leaked to the organisation by an army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, brought to light possible human rights abuses by the US military in those wars, among other things. They were published by the Guardian and other news organisations on the grounds there was a strong public interest in those secrets being brought to light.
You can read Julian’s full analysis here:
Longtime supporter of Assange, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, said Assange’s family is “elated” at his release, telling Sky News: “It’s been very taxing. It’s no secret, being so many years in a maximum security jail.
“Why on earth somebody who is a journalist, who never harmed anybody in his life, is locked up in a jail with the worst terrorists in the UK … it’s very difficult for anybody to justify.”
That’s it from me, Helen Sullivan. My colleague Helen Davidson will take you through the latest developments.
Here is a timeline of Assange’s long case – and how he went from being questioned in Sweden to living for years in Ecuador’s embassy in London and in Belmarsh maximum security prison in the UK:
Daniel Hurst
Asked if it would be hard for his son to accept a plea deal, Assange’s father, John Shipton said: “I imagine that spending 15 years in one form or another of incarceration, finally ending up in five years in maximum security prison, is a difficult thing – more than difficult actually.”
That included the years Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London from 2012 to 2019, before his diplomatic status was revoked and he was arrested. He was subsequently held in Belmarsh prison in London.
Daniel Hurst
There had been growing consensus within the Australian parliament, across party political lines, that it was time to find a way to secure Assange’s return to Australia.
Albanese, before he became prime minister, suggested that there was nothing to be served by Assange’s continued incarceration – a position that became the official Australian government stance when Labor defeated the Coalition in 2022.
Albanese has said he raised the matter directly with the US, including with the president, Joe Biden, during his visit to Washington in October 2023.
In February this year, Albanese and cabinet members supported a motion put forward by independent MP Andrew Wilkie urging the UK and US to allow Assange to return home to Australia.
The attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, said he also raised the matter with his US counterpart, Merrick Garland, during a meeting in January this year.
Daniel Hurst
Julian Assange should not be judged poorly “for accepting a deal to get the hell out of there and come home” in light of his poor health, an Australian MP has said.
Australian politicians have reacted cautiously to reports of a plea deal to end the US pursuit of Assange in connection with the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as diplomatic cables.
The Australian Labor MP Julian Hill said: “No one should judge Julian for accepting a deal to get the hell out of there and come home. His health is fragile.”
Hill said he hoped “for the best now” and credited the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, with pursuing the matter relentlessly.
“Whatever you think of Assange he is an Australian and enough is enough,” Hill said.
“The prime minister [Anthony Albanese] deserves enormous personal credit for his judgment and determination, never giving up in pursuing resolution of this case.”
Watch: Assange departs the UK
Here is the video released by WikiLeaks showing Assange boarding a plane after being granted bail and released from Belmarsh maximum security prison: