WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange lands in Saipan for US plea-deal court hearing

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to be freed after plea-deal court appearance on the US territory of Saipan.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has landed in Saipan ahead of a scheduled court appearance where he is expected to plead guilty to an espionage charge as part of a deal with the United States Justice Department that will see him set free to return to his native Australia.

Assange, 52, is due to appear on Wednesday morning in the US federal court in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a US commonwealth territory in the Western Pacific.

“Julian Assange has arrived on US territory at Saipan Island to formalise the plea deal that should never have had to happen,” WikiLeaks said on X.

Saipan was chosen for the court appearance due to Assange’s opposition to travelling to the mainland US as well as its proximity to his home in Australia, prosecutors said.

Under the deal, Assange will plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents, according to filings in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.

NOW: Julian Assange has arrived on US territory at Saipan Island to formalise the plea deal that should never have had to happen. #AssangeJet pic.twitter.com/Q0Lqaaeye8

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) June 25, 2024

Assange is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served in prison in the United Kingdom during his hearing, which is scheduled for 9am local time on Wednesday (2300 GMT on Tuesday).

Al Jazeera’s Sarah Clarke, reporting from Brisbane, Australia, said the much-anticipated court appearance of Assange on Saipan, which is about 3,000km (1,865 miles) from Australia, is the closest he has been to his home country in more than a decade.

“He is set to admit to violating US espionage laws, that was obviously part of his plea deal. We expect him to get a 62-month sentence, but he is unlikely to serve that sentence because of the time he has already spent in a UK prison,” Clarke said.

“Details of this plea deal will be better known once the judge in Saipan in that court has signed off on that agreement”, she said.

“We expect him to land in Australia, in Canberra the capital, as early as this evening. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has long said that this saga has dragged on for too long… and it’s time for Assange to come home and that journey begins today,” she added.

The court appearance and expected freeing of Assange represents the final chapter in a more than decade-long legal odyssey over the fate of the computer expert, whose hugely popular secret-sharing website WikiLeaks made him a cause célèbre among press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose US military wrongdoing.

Australian-born Assange spent more than five years in a UK high-security jail and seven years inside the Ecuadorean Embassy in London as he fought accusations of sex crimes in Sweden and battled extradition to the US, where he faced 18 criminal charges.

Assange’s supporters view him as a victim because he exposed US military crimes in its conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Washington has said the release of the secret documents put lives in danger.

Australian governments have been advocating for Assange’s release and had raised the issue with the US several times.