Cpt. Rishwat
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It was kind of obvious who was going after him when he exposed some embarrassing secrets of world top guns and their machinations.
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange freed in US plea deal [Update at Post#86]
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It was kind of obvious who was going after him when he exposed some embarrassing secrets of world top guns and their machinations.
Robert
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Two Swedish women.
“In 2010, a Swedish woman initially referred to in the press as Miss A said that Assange had tampered with a condom during sex with her on a visit to Stockholm, essentially forcing her to have unprotected sex. She has since spoken publicly under her name, Anna Ardin.
Another woman, referred to as Miss W, said that during the same visit, Assange had penetrated her without a condom while she was sleeping.“
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/id...-assange-arrest-wikileaks-rape-sweden-embassy
It was difficult for some prominent leftist progressives to process these allegations about one who they thought of as their own, a hero, and at least one leading feminist writer rubbished the claimants. Curious to see Western feminists and Muslim conspiracy theorists on the same side!
UK court to hear Wikileaks' Assange final appeal against extradition to US
The High Court in London Tuesday will begin hearing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's final UK appeal against extradition to the United States to face trial over publishing secret military and diplomatic files.
Washington wants the 52-year-old Australian citizen extradited after he was charged there multiple times between 2018 and 2020 in connection with WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The long-running legal saga in Britain's courts is now nearing a conclusion, after Assange lost successive rulings in recent years.
If this week's two-day bid to appeal -- set to begin at 10:30 am (1030 GMT) Tuesday -- is successful, he will have another chance to argue his case in a London court, with a date set for a full hearing.
If he loses, Assange will have exhausted all UK appeals and will enter the extradition process, although his team have indicated they will appeal to European courts.
His wife Stella Assange has said he will ask the European Court of Human Rights to temporarily halt the extradition if needed, warning he would die if sent to the United States.
"Tomorrow and the day after will determine whether he lives or dies essentially, and he's physically and mentally obviously in a very difficult place," she told BBC radio on Monday.
US President Joe Biden has faced sustained pressure, both domestically and internationally, to drop the 18-count indictment Assange faces in federal court in Virginia, which was filed under his predecessor Donald Trump.
Major media organisations, press freedom advocates and the Australian parliament are among those decrying the prosecution under the 1917 Espionage Act, which has never been used before over publishing classified information.
'Enough is enough'
But Washington has maintained the case, which alleges Assange and others at WikiLeaks recruited and agreed with hackers to conduct "one of the largest compromises of classified information" in US history.
Assange, detained in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in southeast London since April 2019, was arrested after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador's London embassy.
He fled there to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault which were later dropped.
The High Court had blocked his extradition, but then reversed the decision on appeal in 2021 after the United States vowed to not imprison him in its most extreme prison, "ADX Florence".
It also pledged not to subject him to the harsh regime known as "Special Administrative Measures".
In March 2022, the UK's Supreme Court refused permission to appeal, arguing Assange failed to "raise an arguable point of law".
Months later, ex-interior minister Priti Patel formally signed off on his extradition, but Assange is now seeking permission to review that decision and the 2021 appeal ruling.
If convicted in the United States, he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in jail.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief, told reporters last week that caveats included within the US promises meant they were "not worth the paper they are written on".
On the same day, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced the years-long legal pursuit of Assange, saying "enough is enough".
It followed the country's parliament passing a motion calling for an end to his prosecution.
Assange has two children with his wife Stella, a lawyer who he met when she worked on his case.
The High Court in London Tuesday will begin hearing WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's final UK appeal against extradition to the United States to face trial over publishing secret military and diplomatic files.
Washington wants the 52-year-old Australian citizen extradited after he was charged there multiple times between 2018 and 2020 in connection with WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of files relating to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The long-running legal saga in Britain's courts is now nearing a conclusion, after Assange lost successive rulings in recent years.
If this week's two-day bid to appeal -- set to begin at 10:30 am (1030 GMT) Tuesday -- is successful, he will have another chance to argue his case in a London court, with a date set for a full hearing.
If he loses, Assange will have exhausted all UK appeals and will enter the extradition process, although his team have indicated they will appeal to European courts.
His wife Stella Assange has said he will ask the European Court of Human Rights to temporarily halt the extradition if needed, warning he would die if sent to the United States.
"Tomorrow and the day after will determine whether he lives or dies essentially, and he's physically and mentally obviously in a very difficult place," she told BBC radio on Monday.
US President Joe Biden has faced sustained pressure, both domestically and internationally, to drop the 18-count indictment Assange faces in federal court in Virginia, which was filed under his predecessor Donald Trump.
Major media organisations, press freedom advocates and the Australian parliament are among those decrying the prosecution under the 1917 Espionage Act, which has never been used before over publishing classified information.
'Enough is enough'
But Washington has maintained the case, which alleges Assange and others at WikiLeaks recruited and agreed with hackers to conduct "one of the largest compromises of classified information" in US history.
Assange, detained in the high-security Belmarsh Prison in southeast London since April 2019, was arrested after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador's London embassy.
He fled there to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault which were later dropped.
The High Court had blocked his extradition, but then reversed the decision on appeal in 2021 after the United States vowed to not imprison him in its most extreme prison, "ADX Florence".
It also pledged not to subject him to the harsh regime known as "Special Administrative Measures".
In March 2022, the UK's Supreme Court refused permission to appeal, arguing Assange failed to "raise an arguable point of law".
Months later, ex-interior minister Priti Patel formally signed off on his extradition, but Assange is now seeking permission to review that decision and the 2021 appeal ruling.
If convicted in the United States, he faces a maximum sentence of 175 years in jail.
Kristinn Hrafnsson, WikiLeaks' editor-in-chief, told reporters last week that caveats included within the US promises meant they were "not worth the paper they are written on".
On the same day, Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced the years-long legal pursuit of Assange, saying "enough is enough".
It followed the country's parliament passing a motion calling for an end to his prosecution.
Assange has two children with his wife Stella, a lawyer who he met when she worked on his case.
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Assange did a great job. What he did was honest journalism.
It is disgraceful that they are going after him like this.
It is disgraceful that they are going after him like this.
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wins bid to appeal extradition to US
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been given permission to have a full appeal over his extradition to the United States after arguing at London’s High Court that he might not be able to rely on his right to free speech at a US trial.Two judges at the High Court said they have given him leave to have a full appeal to hear his argument that he might be discriminated against on the basis the Australian-born Assange is a foreign national.
Hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the court on Monday ahead of what was a key ruling after 13 years of legal battles, with two judges asked to declare whether they were satisfied by US assurances that Assange, 52, could rely on the US First Amendment right to free speech if he is tried for spying in the US.
Assange’s wife Stella said outside court that the ruling “marks a turning point” and that “we are relieved as a family that the court took the right decision.
“Everyone can see what should be done here. Julian must be freed,” she said.
The decision was met outside court by an eruption of cheering and singing. Assange’s legal team has said if he lost he could be on a plane across the Atlantic within 24 hours.
His lawyer Edward Fitzgerald had told the judges they should not accept the assurance given by US prosecutors that Assange could seek to rely upon the rights and protections given under the First Amendment, as a US court would not be bound by this.
“We say this is a blatantly inadequate assurance,” he told the court.
Fitzgerald had accepted a separate assurance that Assange would not face the death penalty, saying the US had provided an “unambiguous promise not to charge any capital offence”.
Human rights monitor Amnesty International called the ruling “a rare piece of positive news for Julian Assange and all defenders of press freedom”.
“The USA’s ongoing attempt to prosecute Assange puts media freedom at risk worldwide. It ridicules the USA’s obligations under international law, and their stated commitment to freedom of expression,” said Simon Crowther, legal adviser at Amnesty. “It is vital that journalists and whistleblowers are able to participate in critical reporting in the public interest without fear of persecution.”
The US has said its First Amendment assurance was sufficient. James Lewis, representing the US authorities, said it made clear that Assange would not be discriminated against because of his nationality in any US trial or hearing.
US President Joe Biden has faced domestic and international pressure to drop the case, which was filed under his predecessor Donald Trump.
Biden indicated recently that the US was considering an Australian request to drop the charges.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange wins bid to appeal extradition to US
Judges in the UK will hear WikiLeaks founder’s argument against being extradited to face trial in a US court.
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Wikileaks: Julian Assange freed in US plea deal
After a years-long legal saga, Wikileaks says that founder Julian Assange has left the UK after reaching a deal with US authorities that will see him plead guilty to criminal charges and go free.
Assange, 52, was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.
For years, the US has argued that the Wikileaks files - which disclosed information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - endangered lives.
Assange spent the last five years in a British prison, from where he was fighting extradition to the US.
According to CBS, the BBC's US partner, Assange will spend no time in US custody and will receive credit for the time spent incarcerated in the UK.
Assange will return to Australia, according to a letter from the justice department.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Wikileaks said that Assange left Belmarsh prison on Monday after 1,901 days in a small cell.
He was then "released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK" to return to Australia, the statement added.
Video shared online by Wikileaks appear to show Assange, dressed in jeans and a blue shirt, being driven to Stansted before boarding an aircraft.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify the video.
His wife, Stella Assange, tweeted thanks to his supporters "who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true".
The deal - which will see him plead guilty to one charge - is expected to be finalised in a court in the Northern Mariana Islands on Wednesday, 26 June.
The remote Pacific islands, a US commonwealth, are much closer to Australia than US federal courts in Hawaii or the continental US.
Agence France Press quoted a spokesperson for Australia's government as saying that the case had "dragged on for too long".
His attorney, Richard Miller, declined to comment when contacted by CBS. The BBC has also contacted his US-based lawyer.
He and his lawyers had long claimed that the case against him was politically motivated.
In April, US President Joe Biden said that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution against Assange.
In a victory the following month, the UK High Court ruled that Assange could bring a new appeal against extradition to the US, allowing him to challenge US assurances over how his prospective trial would be conducted and whether his right to free speech would be infringed.
After the ruling, his wife Stella told reporters and supporters that the Biden administration "should distance itself from this shameful prosecution".
US prosecutors had originally wanted to try the Wikileaks founder on 18 counts - mostly under the Espionage Act - over the release of confidential US military records and diplomatic messages related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Wikileaks, which Assange founded in 2006, claims to have published over 10 million documents in what the US government later described as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".
In 2010, the website published a video from a US military helicopter which showed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians, including two Reuters news reporters, being killed in Baghdad.
One of Assange's most well-known collaborators, US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison before then-president Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017.
Assange also faced separate charges of rape and sexual assault in Sweden, which he denied.
He spent seven years hiding in Ecuador's London embassy, claiming the Swedish case would lead him to be sent to the US.
Swedish authorities dropped the case in 2019 and said that too much time had passed since the original complaint, but UK authorities later took him into custody. He was tried for not surrendering to the courts to be extradited to Sweden.
Even amid long-running legal battles, Assange has rarely been seen in public and for years has reportedly suffered from poor health, including a small stroke in prison in 2021.
BBC
After a years-long legal saga, Wikileaks says that founder Julian Assange has left the UK after reaching a deal with US authorities that will see him plead guilty to criminal charges and go free.
Assange, 52, was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.
For years, the US has argued that the Wikileaks files - which disclosed information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars - endangered lives.
Assange spent the last five years in a British prison, from where he was fighting extradition to the US.
According to CBS, the BBC's US partner, Assange will spend no time in US custody and will receive credit for the time spent incarcerated in the UK.
Assange will return to Australia, according to a letter from the justice department.
On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Wikileaks said that Assange left Belmarsh prison on Monday after 1,901 days in a small cell.
He was then "released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK" to return to Australia, the statement added.
Video shared online by Wikileaks appear to show Assange, dressed in jeans and a blue shirt, being driven to Stansted before boarding an aircraft.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify the video.
His wife, Stella Assange, tweeted thanks to his supporters "who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true".
The deal - which will see him plead guilty to one charge - is expected to be finalised in a court in the Northern Mariana Islands on Wednesday, 26 June.
The remote Pacific islands, a US commonwealth, are much closer to Australia than US federal courts in Hawaii or the continental US.
Agence France Press quoted a spokesperson for Australia's government as saying that the case had "dragged on for too long".
His attorney, Richard Miller, declined to comment when contacted by CBS. The BBC has also contacted his US-based lawyer.
He and his lawyers had long claimed that the case against him was politically motivated.
In April, US President Joe Biden said that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the prosecution against Assange.
In a victory the following month, the UK High Court ruled that Assange could bring a new appeal against extradition to the US, allowing him to challenge US assurances over how his prospective trial would be conducted and whether his right to free speech would be infringed.
After the ruling, his wife Stella told reporters and supporters that the Biden administration "should distance itself from this shameful prosecution".
US prosecutors had originally wanted to try the Wikileaks founder on 18 counts - mostly under the Espionage Act - over the release of confidential US military records and diplomatic messages related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Wikileaks, which Assange founded in 2006, claims to have published over 10 million documents in what the US government later described as "one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States".
In 2010, the website published a video from a US military helicopter which showed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians, including two Reuters news reporters, being killed in Baghdad.
One of Assange's most well-known collaborators, US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison before then-president Barack Obama commuted her sentence in 2017.
Assange also faced separate charges of rape and sexual assault in Sweden, which he denied.
He spent seven years hiding in Ecuador's London embassy, claiming the Swedish case would lead him to be sent to the US.
Swedish authorities dropped the case in 2019 and said that too much time had passed since the original complaint, but UK authorities later took him into custody. He was tried for not surrendering to the courts to be extradited to Sweden.
Even amid long-running legal battles, Assange has rarely been seen in public and for years has reportedly suffered from poor health, including a small stroke in prison in 2021.
BBC
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sweep_shot
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Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do?
A long legal battle involving Julian Assange appears to be finally reaching its end after the founder of the Wikileaks website agreed a deal with American authorities.
He had been fighting against extradition to the US where he was accused of disclosing military secrets.
Under the deal, he will plead guilty to one criminal charge and go free.
What did Julian Assange do?
Mr Assange ran Wikileaks, a website that published many confidential or restricted official reports related to war, spying and corruption.
In 2010, it released a video from a US military helicopter which showed civilians being killed in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
It also published thousands of confidential documents supplied by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. These suggested that the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Afghanistan.
The revelations became a huge story, prompting reaction from all corners of the globe, and led to intense scrutiny of American involvement in foreign conflicts.
The US said the leaks had endangered the lives of American personnel.
Mr Assange was accused of conspiring to break into its military databases to acquire sensitive information, and was charged with 18 offences.
Efforts were made to bring him to the US for prosecution - which he fought for 14 years in some of the world's highest courts.
Mr Assange has always argued that he exposed serious abuses by US armed forces, and that the case against him was politically-motivated.
Who is Julian Assange?
Born in Australia, Mr Assange gained a reputation for computer programming as a teenager. In 1995, he was fined for hacking offences.
He also dabbled in academia - co-writing a bestselling book on the emerging, subversive side of the internet, before studying physics and maths.
In 2010 - the year Wikileaks released the footage of US soldiers shooting dead Iraqi civilians - Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Mr Assange, accusing him of having raped one woman and molested another.
This marked the start of Mr Assange's 14-year legal battle.
He was detained in the UK and denied the claims against him, arguing that they were a ploy to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges over the Wikileaks disclosures.
In 2012, he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London - having found sympathy for his cause from the country's then-president.
Mr Assange spent seven years in the embassy, and was regularly visited by celebrity supporters including the singer Lady Gaga and the actor Pamela Anderson.
He was ordered to leave the building by a later Ecuadorean president, was arrested by UK police, and went on to spend five years in a British prison as he continued efforts to fight extradition to the US.
In November 2019, the Swedish authorities dropped the case against Mr Assange because they said too much time had passed since the alleged offences.
Why has Julian Assange been released now?
Mr Assange's release from a UK prison comes after a deal under which he is expected to plead guilty to one charge under the US Espionage Act. He will spend no time in US custody.
Mr Assange's supporters said the agreement was reached after intense diplomatic efforts and pressure from Australia. The country's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the case had "dragged on too long".
US President Joe Biden previously said he would consider a formal request to drop charges - a remark that was welcomed by Mr Assange's supporters, who cited his ill-health.
Mr Assange's wife Stella Assange suggested a "breakthrough" was finally reached after the UK High Court began to consider her husband's constitutional protections under the freedom of the press.
She told the BBC that she was "elated" about his release, but that it had been "touch and go" at times.
What is Wikileaks and what else has it done?
Mr Assange's website, which he set up in 2006, claims to have published more than 10 million documents on all manner of topics.
It is currently led by Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson.
As well as the revelations related to Iraq and Afghanistan, it published a leak of documents from movie studio Sony Pictures in 2015.
It also disclosed thousands of hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss John Podesta, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election.
To its supporters, the whistleblowing website is a key player in exposing secrets governments and companies would rather keep hidden.
But those whose documents were exposed on the web argue it is a dangerous and reckless force.
Who is Stella Assange?
Ms Assange is a Swedish-Spanish lawyer.
The couple began their relationship in 2015, and have two children together, Max and Gabriel.
They married inside London's Belmarsh prison - where Mr Assange was held at the time - in 2022.
Her dress was designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler.
Six guests attended, including Mr Assange's two brothers and his father.
BBC
A long legal battle involving Julian Assange appears to be finally reaching its end after the founder of the Wikileaks website agreed a deal with American authorities.
He had been fighting against extradition to the US where he was accused of disclosing military secrets.
Under the deal, he will plead guilty to one criminal charge and go free.
What did Julian Assange do?
Mr Assange ran Wikileaks, a website that published many confidential or restricted official reports related to war, spying and corruption.
In 2010, it released a video from a US military helicopter which showed civilians being killed in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.
It also published thousands of confidential documents supplied by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. These suggested that the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Afghanistan.
The revelations became a huge story, prompting reaction from all corners of the globe, and led to intense scrutiny of American involvement in foreign conflicts.
The US said the leaks had endangered the lives of American personnel.
Mr Assange was accused of conspiring to break into its military databases to acquire sensitive information, and was charged with 18 offences.
Efforts were made to bring him to the US for prosecution - which he fought for 14 years in some of the world's highest courts.
Mr Assange has always argued that he exposed serious abuses by US armed forces, and that the case against him was politically-motivated.
Who is Julian Assange?
Born in Australia, Mr Assange gained a reputation for computer programming as a teenager. In 1995, he was fined for hacking offences.
He also dabbled in academia - co-writing a bestselling book on the emerging, subversive side of the internet, before studying physics and maths.
In 2010 - the year Wikileaks released the footage of US soldiers shooting dead Iraqi civilians - Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Mr Assange, accusing him of having raped one woman and molested another.
This marked the start of Mr Assange's 14-year legal battle.
He was detained in the UK and denied the claims against him, arguing that they were a ploy to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges over the Wikileaks disclosures.
In 2012, he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London - having found sympathy for his cause from the country's then-president.
Mr Assange spent seven years in the embassy, and was regularly visited by celebrity supporters including the singer Lady Gaga and the actor Pamela Anderson.
He was ordered to leave the building by a later Ecuadorean president, was arrested by UK police, and went on to spend five years in a British prison as he continued efforts to fight extradition to the US.
In November 2019, the Swedish authorities dropped the case against Mr Assange because they said too much time had passed since the alleged offences.
Why has Julian Assange been released now?
Mr Assange's release from a UK prison comes after a deal under which he is expected to plead guilty to one charge under the US Espionage Act. He will spend no time in US custody.
Mr Assange's supporters said the agreement was reached after intense diplomatic efforts and pressure from Australia. The country's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the case had "dragged on too long".
US President Joe Biden previously said he would consider a formal request to drop charges - a remark that was welcomed by Mr Assange's supporters, who cited his ill-health.
Mr Assange's wife Stella Assange suggested a "breakthrough" was finally reached after the UK High Court began to consider her husband's constitutional protections under the freedom of the press.
She told the BBC that she was "elated" about his release, but that it had been "touch and go" at times.
What is Wikileaks and what else has it done?
Mr Assange's website, which he set up in 2006, claims to have published more than 10 million documents on all manner of topics.
It is currently led by Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson.
As well as the revelations related to Iraq and Afghanistan, it published a leak of documents from movie studio Sony Pictures in 2015.
It also disclosed thousands of hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss John Podesta, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election.
To its supporters, the whistleblowing website is a key player in exposing secrets governments and companies would rather keep hidden.
But those whose documents were exposed on the web argue it is a dangerous and reckless force.
Who is Stella Assange?
Ms Assange is a Swedish-Spanish lawyer.
The couple began their relationship in 2015, and have two children together, Max and Gabriel.
They married inside London's Belmarsh prison - where Mr Assange was held at the time - in 2022.
Her dress was designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler.
Six guests attended, including Mr Assange's two brothers and his father.
BBC
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Sleepy Saipan witnesses end of Julian Assange legal saga
The sleek, marble district courthouse in Saipan could be anywhere in the United States, but for the officials who welcomed us in their bright, flowery shirts. Warm ocean breezes coming off the Pacific rustled the leaves of the flame trees whose flowers blaze against soft green grass.EPA WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange leaves the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands on the island of Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a commonwealth of the United States, 26 June 2024.EPA
Assange didn't speak to reporters as he left court.
Even Assange, whose appearance has taken some wild turns over the past 14 years, had smartened up, tightening his rumpled brown tie and sporting a black jacket.
Judge Ramona Manglona, who was hearing what must have been the biggest case of her career, would not be rushed.
She picked over each detail of the deal the Wikileaks founder had struck with US government prosecutors to end their long legal battle, repeatedly checking that he was happy with what he had agreed. At times looking a little nervous he responded firmly to every question that yes, he was happy.
There was little of the bravado he had shown in his former years. Both Julian Assange and the prosecutors appeared worn down by their long feud, and anxious to get to the end of the hearing.
There was just one flash of the old Assange when he was asked by the judge if he now accepted that he had broken the law.
He replied that when he was running Wikileaks, and dropping thousands of classified documents into the public realm, he believed this action was protected by the first amendment of the US constitution guaranteeing freedom of expression, and that he believed the Espionage Act, under which he was being charged, was in conflict with that amendment.
But it did not last long. Yes, he acknowledged, whatever I thought then I do now accept that I have broken that law.
Western Australia
I was last here when I accompanied Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, 19 years before Julian Assange brought his fame to Saipan.
The territory, capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, was the scene of a particularly nasty battle in World War II when it was under Japanese rule, and troops and civilians were told they could not surrender to the advancing Americans.
Hundreds of civilians were persuaded to jump to their deaths from a high cliff in the north of the island.
The emperor and empress stood on the edge of the cliff, contemplating the terrible loss of life set in motion by their forebears.
Today, people were approaching us with bags of mementos, capitalising on their far-flung island’s moment in the spotlight. Some had no idea who Julian Assange is. There was no opportunity to find out.
After two hours of deliberation Judge Manglona announced his release: “An early happy birthday to you,” she said. Assange turns 53 next week.
And she reminded him and the prosecutors that Saipan had just celebrated 80 years of peace, since those terrible battles between the Japanese and the Americans and said she hoped he could now find peace in his own life.
Within minutes, Julian Assange was in a car to the airport, and on his way back to Australia. And Saipan slipped back into its languid routine of flowers and palms and Korean honeymooners strolling the beaches.
Source: BBC
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Julian Assange lands in Australia a free man
Julian Assange has landed back home in his native Australia, after a plea deal allowed him to walk free from a London prison.
There were emotional scenes at Canberra Airport, as the Wikileaks founder kissed his wife and hugged his father, his lawyers watching on, visibly moved.
"Julian needs time to recover, to get used to freedom," Stella Assange said at a news conference shortly after her husband arrived.
For the past 14 years, Assange has been in a legal battle with US officials who accused him of leaking classified documents, which they say put lives in danger.
The 52-year-old did not attend the news conference in Canberra, instead letting his lawyer and wife speak for him.
www.bbc.com
Julian Assange has landed back home in his native Australia, after a plea deal allowed him to walk free from a London prison.
There were emotional scenes at Canberra Airport, as the Wikileaks founder kissed his wife and hugged his father, his lawyers watching on, visibly moved.
"Julian needs time to recover, to get used to freedom," Stella Assange said at a news conference shortly after her husband arrived.
For the past 14 years, Assange has been in a legal battle with US officials who accused him of leaking classified documents, which they say put lives in danger.
The 52-year-old did not attend the news conference in Canberra, instead letting his lawyer and wife speak for him.
Julian Assange: Wikileaks founder lands in Australia a free man
Landing in Canberra, the Wikileaks founder's 14-year legal battle comes to an end after a plea deal with the US.
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She accused Assange of sexual assault, but is glad he’s now free
Swedish human rights activist Anna Ardin is glad Julian Assange is free.
But the claims she has made about him suggest she would have every reason not to wish him well.
She is one of two women who accused the WikiLeaks founder of sexual assault 14 years ago.
The allegations - which Assange has always denied - were explosive, and made headlines across the world. They set off a chain of events which saw him trying to avoid extradition to Sweden by seeking asylum in a London embassy for seven years.
In 2019 the Swedish authorities ended their investigation into Assange and dropped their extradition bid. However, he spent the next five years in a British prison fighting extradition to the US, where he faced prosecution over massive leaks of confidential information.
These include US army footage showing Iraqi civilians being killed, and documents suggesting the US military killed hundreds of Afghan civilians in unreported incidents.
Assange was eventually freed last month, after a plea deal with the US.
Ardin is fiercely proud of Assange's work for WikiLeaks, and insists that it should never have landed him behind bars.
“We have the right to know about the wars that are fought in our name,” she says.
“I’m sincerely happy for him and his family, that they can be together. The punishment he’s got has been very unproportionate.”
Speaking to Ardin over Zoom in Stockholm, it quickly becomes clear that she has no problem keeping what she sees as the two Assanges apart in her head - the visionary activist and the man who she says does not treat women well.
She is at pains to describe him neither as a hero nor a monster, but a complicated man.
The 45-year-old activist is also a Christian deacon, with a belief in forgiveness, and she uses the words "truth" and "transparency" again and again throughout the interview. It might explain why she is in awe of what WikiLeaks accomplished but, at the same time, bitterly disappointed that the assault allegations she made against Assange were never formally tested.
Ardin describes her encounter with Assange in her book, No Heroes, No Monsters: What I Learned Being The Most Hated Woman On The Internet.
In 2010, just three weeks after WikiLeaks’ release of the Afghan war logs, she invited him to Stockholm to take part in a seminar organised by the religious wing of Sweden’s Social Democrats.
Assange did not want to stay at a hotel for security reasons and Ardin was due to be away, so she offered him her flat. But she returned early.
After an evening of discussing politics and human rights, they ended up having what she describes as uncomfortable sex during which she says he humiliated her.
Ardin says she agreed to have sex with Assange as long as he used a condom, but the condom broke and he continued.
Ardin suspects he broke it deliberately. If this was the case, he probably would have committed an offence under Swedish law.
Later, Ardin writes that she heard from another woman - named in legal papers as SW - who had attended the seminar. SW apparently said that Assange had penetrated her without her consent when she was asleep.
In a 2016 statement to Swedish prosecutors, Assange maintained that his sexual relationship with SW was entirely consensual, and that in texts seen by his lawyers, she told a friend that she had been “half asleep”.
Both women filed police reports - Ardin's case was categorised as alleged sexual misconduct, and SW's as alleged rape.
The press got hold of the reports, setting off an extraordinary series of events.
Assange denied the allegations, and suggested that they were a US set-up. WikiLeaks had just leaked 76,000 US military documents - sparking massive global attention and scrutiny of US foreign policy.
On 21 August, 2010, WikiLeaks tweeted: “We were warned to expect ‘dirty tricks’. Now we have the first one.”
Another post followed the next day: “Reminder: US intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks as far back as 2008.”
Assange’s UK lawyer Mark Stephens claimed that a “honeytrap” had been sprung and that “dark forces” were at work.
A social media furore erupted which Ardin describes as “hell” – she tells me the amount of harassment and death threats forced her to leave Sweden at one point.
“I couldn’t work. My life passed me by for two years.”
To this day, many believe Ardin is part of a US conspiracy, and that her allegations are false. Greece’s former Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, a long-time supporter of Assange, last week described her claims as “mud” and “innuendo”.
No evidence has ever been found to link Ardin with US intelligence. She concedes that the narratives spread by Assange had an air of plausibility, because he had been “messing with the Pentagon”, but says the claims were nothing but “lies” and a “smear campaign”.
Months after the incidents, an international arrest warrant was issued for Assange, who was in London at that point.
In December 2010, he admitted to the BBC that it was “not probable” he was part of a classic honey-trap operation - but he still denied any wrongdoing.
Assange was convinced that if he went to Sweden he would then be extradited to the US - where he feared the death penalty awaited. In 2012, he took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Sweden refused to guarantee he would not be extradited to the US, but said any move to do so would need to be approved by the UK too. Both countries also said they would not extradite him if they thought he might face the death penalty.
In 2015, Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation into Ardin’s allegations as time had run out.
In 2019, prosecutors abandoned their investigation into SW's claims, saying the evidence had “weakened considerably due to the long period of time since the events in question”.
By this time, Assange was being held in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, facing extradition to the US on espionage charges. If convicted there, he could have faced 170 years behind bars.
Assange finally won his freedom in 2024, after agreeing to plead guilty to a single charge under the US Espionage Act.
Ardin still wishes he had faced trial for the alleged assault against her. “But he won’t. So I have to let it go.”
She says some of her doubters don’t take her seriously because they don’t think the details of her experience, or reaction, were dramatic enough.
She suggests there’s an expectation of sexual assault to always be brutal, involve a lot of violence, and leave the victim heavily traumatised - and if that doesn’t happen you can’t be a real victim, or a real offender.
But that doesn’t align with what Ardin describes as the reality of her experience. She stresses that doesn’t make it any less serious or unacceptable.
She slams many of Assange's supporters - and journalists - for seeking a “one-sided narrative” which turns him into a hero, and her into an evil CIA agent.
“I think that we have a problem that we have to have these heroes that are flawless… I don’t think heroes exist outside fairytales.”
Ardin says her intention was never to write off Assange as a one-dimensional villain, to be “kicked out of society”.
Offenders are seen as “monsters, completely different from all other men", she says. And this means the “system goes on”, she argues, as “normal” men don’t realise that they, too, can be prone to violence - so they don’t interrogate themselves.
“I want him to be seen as a normal guy. That's what normal guys do sometimes. They cross other people's boundaries.”
She thinks that progressive movements often have problems calling out leaders, fearing any criticism delegitimises the entire cause. “You can't be a leader and abuse the people who are active in your movement, because the movement will not survive.”
People should not be able to get away with sexual crimes, or any crimes just because they’re influential, she adds.
The BBC contacted Assange's lawyers for comment on the claims repeated by Ardin in our interview with her, but they said he was "not in a position to respond".
I ask what justice would have looked like for her at the end of this saga.
Ardin tells me she is only interested in getting to what she describes as the truth. She is less interested in punishment.
“Justice for me would have been to have transparency. I was not happy that he was locked up because he was [locked up] for the wrong reason.”
Ardin is a left-wing Christian who attaches great importance to reconciliation and transformation.
But for that to be possible, she says that perpetrators need to own up and genuinely commit to change.
After all this contemplation, I wonder what she would say to Assange, if face to face with him now.
Ardin tells me she would urge him to work on himself.
She would ask him to admit that he “did not have the right to do what he did to me, and he doesn’t have that right towards other women either".
“He has to admit that for himself… He has to reflect on what he did.”
BBC
Swedish human rights activist Anna Ardin is glad Julian Assange is free.
But the claims she has made about him suggest she would have every reason not to wish him well.
She is one of two women who accused the WikiLeaks founder of sexual assault 14 years ago.
The allegations - which Assange has always denied - were explosive, and made headlines across the world. They set off a chain of events which saw him trying to avoid extradition to Sweden by seeking asylum in a London embassy for seven years.
In 2019 the Swedish authorities ended their investigation into Assange and dropped their extradition bid. However, he spent the next five years in a British prison fighting extradition to the US, where he faced prosecution over massive leaks of confidential information.
These include US army footage showing Iraqi civilians being killed, and documents suggesting the US military killed hundreds of Afghan civilians in unreported incidents.
Assange was eventually freed last month, after a plea deal with the US.
Ardin is fiercely proud of Assange's work for WikiLeaks, and insists that it should never have landed him behind bars.
“We have the right to know about the wars that are fought in our name,” she says.
“I’m sincerely happy for him and his family, that they can be together. The punishment he’s got has been very unproportionate.”
Speaking to Ardin over Zoom in Stockholm, it quickly becomes clear that she has no problem keeping what she sees as the two Assanges apart in her head - the visionary activist and the man who she says does not treat women well.
She is at pains to describe him neither as a hero nor a monster, but a complicated man.
The 45-year-old activist is also a Christian deacon, with a belief in forgiveness, and she uses the words "truth" and "transparency" again and again throughout the interview. It might explain why she is in awe of what WikiLeaks accomplished but, at the same time, bitterly disappointed that the assault allegations she made against Assange were never formally tested.
Ardin describes her encounter with Assange in her book, No Heroes, No Monsters: What I Learned Being The Most Hated Woman On The Internet.
In 2010, just three weeks after WikiLeaks’ release of the Afghan war logs, she invited him to Stockholm to take part in a seminar organised by the religious wing of Sweden’s Social Democrats.
Assange did not want to stay at a hotel for security reasons and Ardin was due to be away, so she offered him her flat. But she returned early.
After an evening of discussing politics and human rights, they ended up having what she describes as uncomfortable sex during which she says he humiliated her.
Ardin says she agreed to have sex with Assange as long as he used a condom, but the condom broke and he continued.
Ardin suspects he broke it deliberately. If this was the case, he probably would have committed an offence under Swedish law.
Later, Ardin writes that she heard from another woman - named in legal papers as SW - who had attended the seminar. SW apparently said that Assange had penetrated her without her consent when she was asleep.
In a 2016 statement to Swedish prosecutors, Assange maintained that his sexual relationship with SW was entirely consensual, and that in texts seen by his lawyers, she told a friend that she had been “half asleep”.
Both women filed police reports - Ardin's case was categorised as alleged sexual misconduct, and SW's as alleged rape.
The press got hold of the reports, setting off an extraordinary series of events.
Assange denied the allegations, and suggested that they were a US set-up. WikiLeaks had just leaked 76,000 US military documents - sparking massive global attention and scrutiny of US foreign policy.
On 21 August, 2010, WikiLeaks tweeted: “We were warned to expect ‘dirty tricks’. Now we have the first one.”
Another post followed the next day: “Reminder: US intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks as far back as 2008.”
Assange’s UK lawyer Mark Stephens claimed that a “honeytrap” had been sprung and that “dark forces” were at work.
A social media furore erupted which Ardin describes as “hell” – she tells me the amount of harassment and death threats forced her to leave Sweden at one point.
“I couldn’t work. My life passed me by for two years.”
To this day, many believe Ardin is part of a US conspiracy, and that her allegations are false. Greece’s former Finance Minister, Yanis Varoufakis, a long-time supporter of Assange, last week described her claims as “mud” and “innuendo”.
No evidence has ever been found to link Ardin with US intelligence. She concedes that the narratives spread by Assange had an air of plausibility, because he had been “messing with the Pentagon”, but says the claims were nothing but “lies” and a “smear campaign”.
Months after the incidents, an international arrest warrant was issued for Assange, who was in London at that point.
In December 2010, he admitted to the BBC that it was “not probable” he was part of a classic honey-trap operation - but he still denied any wrongdoing.
Assange was convinced that if he went to Sweden he would then be extradited to the US - where he feared the death penalty awaited. In 2012, he took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
Sweden refused to guarantee he would not be extradited to the US, but said any move to do so would need to be approved by the UK too. Both countries also said they would not extradite him if they thought he might face the death penalty.
In 2015, Swedish prosecutors dropped the investigation into Ardin’s allegations as time had run out.
In 2019, prosecutors abandoned their investigation into SW's claims, saying the evidence had “weakened considerably due to the long period of time since the events in question”.
By this time, Assange was being held in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison, facing extradition to the US on espionage charges. If convicted there, he could have faced 170 years behind bars.
Assange finally won his freedom in 2024, after agreeing to plead guilty to a single charge under the US Espionage Act.
Ardin still wishes he had faced trial for the alleged assault against her. “But he won’t. So I have to let it go.”
She says some of her doubters don’t take her seriously because they don’t think the details of her experience, or reaction, were dramatic enough.
She suggests there’s an expectation of sexual assault to always be brutal, involve a lot of violence, and leave the victim heavily traumatised - and if that doesn’t happen you can’t be a real victim, or a real offender.
But that doesn’t align with what Ardin describes as the reality of her experience. She stresses that doesn’t make it any less serious or unacceptable.
She slams many of Assange's supporters - and journalists - for seeking a “one-sided narrative” which turns him into a hero, and her into an evil CIA agent.
“I think that we have a problem that we have to have these heroes that are flawless… I don’t think heroes exist outside fairytales.”
Ardin says her intention was never to write off Assange as a one-dimensional villain, to be “kicked out of society”.
Offenders are seen as “monsters, completely different from all other men", she says. And this means the “system goes on”, she argues, as “normal” men don’t realise that they, too, can be prone to violence - so they don’t interrogate themselves.
“I want him to be seen as a normal guy. That's what normal guys do sometimes. They cross other people's boundaries.”
She thinks that progressive movements often have problems calling out leaders, fearing any criticism delegitimises the entire cause. “You can't be a leader and abuse the people who are active in your movement, because the movement will not survive.”
People should not be able to get away with sexual crimes, or any crimes just because they’re influential, she adds.
The BBC contacted Assange's lawyers for comment on the claims repeated by Ardin in our interview with her, but they said he was "not in a position to respond".
I ask what justice would have looked like for her at the end of this saga.
Ardin tells me she is only interested in getting to what she describes as the truth. She is less interested in punishment.
“Justice for me would have been to have transparency. I was not happy that he was locked up because he was [locked up] for the wrong reason.”
Ardin is a left-wing Christian who attaches great importance to reconciliation and transformation.
But for that to be possible, she says that perpetrators need to own up and genuinely commit to change.
After all this contemplation, I wonder what she would say to Assange, if face to face with him now.
Ardin tells me she would urge him to work on himself.
She would ask him to admit that he “did not have the right to do what he did to me, and he doesn’t have that right towards other women either".
“He has to admit that for himself… He has to reflect on what he did.”
BBC
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