WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to a single charge of espionage in return for his freedom after five years in a UK prison.
Assange, 52, admitted to obtaining and publishing US military secrets after ending a plea deal with the Department of Justice.
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He entered the plea on Wednesday morning in federal court on the US-controlled island of Saipan, close to his native Australia, after refusing to set foot on the American mainland.
He was pictured today arriving at the US courthouse in a white SUV, dressed in a tuxedo and a tie.
Assange smiled at the cameras as dozens of journalists gathered outside the court to cover the proceedings.
He walked alongside the Australian Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd as he entered the building at around 8am local time on Wednesday.
Assange addressed the court, saying that he believed the Espionage Act contradicted his First Amendment right, however, he accepted that publishing classified information was unlawful.
When asked by US District Judge Ramona Manglona if he was satisfied with the proceedings, Assange joked that it would depend on the outcome.
His lawyer quickly chimed in, saying: “No pressure, your honour.”
While the deal required Assange to admit guilt, it also allowed him to return to Australia without stepping foot inside an American prison.
WikiLeaks, the website Assange founded in 2006, said in a statement that it was grateful for “all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.”
Assange will be sentenced to 62 months which he had already served during his five years at maximum security Belmarsh prison in London.
He will then be allowed to fly back home to his wife, Stella, whom he secretly married while behind the bars.
Assange has entered a US plea deal to one spy charge in return for US authorities to drop their demands for his extradition from the UK.
He was originally accused of 18 charges under the US Espionage Act after WikiLeaks published confidential US military records in 2010.
The information included the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video, Afghanistan war logs, Iraq war logs, and Cablegate.
American prosecutors alleged that Assange put lives at risk when publishing the information online, beginning the long legal battle to extradite him to the US.
Video shared by WikiLeaks on X yesterday showed its founder walking up steps onto a Vista Jet Aircraft.
He reportedly signed his plea agreement on June 19 and boarded the £394,000 chartered flight from Stansted on Monday.
WikiLeaks has launched a fundraising campaign to cover the cost of the flight.
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Assange video-called his wife Stella, at home in Australia, from the tarmac.
She told the BBC that the “priority” for the couple is to get Julian “healthy again”.
Stella revealed that the WikiLeaks founder has been “in a terrible state for five years”.
The post by WikiLeaks added: “After more than five years in a 2×3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars.
“WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions.
“As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know.
“As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom. Julian’s freedom is our freedom.”
He has been fighting extradition to the US for over a decade.
Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese said that Assange’s case has “dragged on for too long” and added: “We want him brought home to Australia”.
In 2012, Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador due to fears of political persecution by the United States.
He remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London for approximately seven years.
Assange has two children with lawyer and now-wife Stella Morris while living at the Ecuadorian embassy.
He was granted Ecuadorian citizenship in 2018 but the asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with the Ecuadorian authorities in 2019.
Assange was forcibly carried out of the embassy and arrested in April 2019.
In May 2019, he was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and was sentenced to serve 50 weeks in a UK prison.
Timeline of Assange’s legal battle
2006 – Assange founds Wikileaks
April 2010 – Website releases leaked vid from a US helicopter allegedly showing an air strike that killed civilians in Baghdad
July 2010 – WikiLeaks shares more than 91,000 docs
August 2010 – Arrest warrant is issued for Assange over two separate allegations, one of rape and one of molestation, after he visits Sweden for a speaking trip. He is questioned by police in Stockholm and denies the allegations
November 2010 – International arrest warrant issued by Swedish police through Interpol after court approves a request to detain him for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion
December 2010 – Assange surrenders to police in London and is detained pending an extradition hearing. The High Court grants Assange bail
February 2011 – A district court in Britain rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden
June 2012 – Assange enters the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London, seeking asylum, after his bids to appeal the extradition ruling fail. Police set up an around-the-clock guard to arrest him if he steps outside
August 2012 – Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador
July 2014 – Assange loses his bid to have an arrest warrant issued in Sweden against him cancelled. A judge in Stockholm upholds the warrant alleging sexual offenses against two women
March 2015 – Swedish prosecutors ask to question Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy
August 2015 – Swedish prosecutors drop investigations into some allegations against Assange because of the statute of limitations; an investigation into a rape allegation remains active
October 2015 – Metropolitan Police end their 24-hour guard outside the Ecuadorian Embassy but say theyll arrest Assange if he leaves, ending a three-year police operation estimated to have cost millions
February 2016 – Assange claims total vindication as the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finds that he has been unlawfully detained and recommends he be immediately freed and given compensation. Britain calls the finding frankly ridiculous
September 2018 – Ecuador’s president says his country and Britain are working on a legal solution to allow Assange to leave the embassy
October 2018 – Assange seeks a court injunction pressing Ecuador to provide him basic rights he said the country agreed to when it first granted him asylum
November 2018 – A U.S. court filing that appears to inadvertently reveal the existence of a sealed criminal case against Assange is discovered by a researcher. No details are confirmed
April 2019 – Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno blames WikiLeaks for recent corruption allegations; Ecuador’s government revokes Assange’s asylum status. London police haul Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrest him for breaching bail conditions in 2012, as well as on behalf of U.S. authorities
May 2019 – Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012.
May 2019 – The U.S. government indicts Assange on 18 charges over WikiLeaks publication of classified documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
November 2019 – Swedish prosecutor drops rape investigation.
May 2020 – An extradition hearing for Assange is delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 2020 – The U.S. files a new indictment against Assange that prosecutors say underscores Assanges efforts to procure and release classified information.
January 2021 – A British judge rules Assange cannot be extradited to the U.S. because he is likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.
July 2021 – The High Court grants the U.S. government permission to appeal the lower court’s ruling blocking Assange’s extradition.
December 2021 – The High Court rules that U.S. assurances about Assange’s detention are enough to guarantee he would be treated humanely.
March 2022 – Britain’s Supreme Court refuses to grant Assange permission to appeal against his extradition.
June 2022 – Britain’s government orders the extradition of Assange to the United States. Assange appeals.
May 2023 – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Assange should be released and nothing is served by his ongoing incarceration.
June 2023 – A High Court judge rules Assange cannot appeal his extradition.
February 20, 2024 – Assange’s lawyers launch a final legal bid to stop his extradition at the High Court.
March 26, 2024 – Two High Court judges in London give U.S. authorities three more weeks to submit further assurances, including a guarantee that Assange won’t get the death penalty, before deciding whether they will grant him a new appeal against his extradition.
May 20, 2024 – The two High Court judges rule that Assange can mount a new appeal based on arguments about whether he will receive free-speech protections or be at a disadvantage because he is not a U.S. citizen. The date of the hearing has yet to be determined.
June 24, 2024 – The U.S. Justice Department says in a letter filed in court that, under a deal with the agency, Assange will be allowed to walk free in return for pleading guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
