Page 6 - aruba-today-20240627

A6 WORLD NEWS
Thursday 27 June 2024
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returns to Australia a free man

after U.S. legal battle ends

By RICK RYCROFT and but lambasted by national
ROD McGUIRK security hawks who insist that
Associated Press his conduct put lives at risks
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) and strayed far beyond the
— WikiLeaks founder Ju- bounds of traditional journal-
lian Assange returned to his ism duties.
homeland Australia aboard Prosecutors alleged that As-
a charter jet and raised a sange teamed with former
celebratory clenched fist Army intelligence analyst
as his supporters cheered Chelsea Manning to obtain
on Wednesday, hours after the records, including by con-
pleading guilty to obtaining spiring to crack a Defense
and publishing U.S. military Department computer pass-
secrets in a deal with Justice word, and published them
Department prosecutors that without regard to American
concludes a drawn-out legal national security. Names of
saga. human sources who provided
Assange told Prime Minis- information to U.S. forces in
ter Anthony Albanese in a Iraq and Afghanistan were
phone call from the capital among the details exposed,
Canberra’s airport tarmac prosecutors have said.
that Australian government The indictment was unsealed
intervention in the U.S. pros- in 2019, but Assange’s legal
ecution had saved his life, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange waves after landing at RAAF air base Fairbairn in Canberra, woes long predated the
Assange lawyer Jennifer Australia, Wednesday, June 26 2024. criminal case and continued
Robinson said. Associated Press well past it.
Assange embraced his wife lia and accommodated his negotiating his freedom with in an American prison. The Weeks after the release of the
Stella Assange and father desire to avoid entering the London and Washington. judge sentenced him to the largest document cache in
John Shipton who were continental United States. The flights were paid for by five years he’d already spent 2010, a Swedish prosecutor
waiting on the tarmac, but Albanese said Assange told the “Assange team,” Deputy behind bars in the U.K. fight- issued an arrest warrant for
avoided media at a news him during their phone call Prime Minister Richard Marles ing extradition to the U.S. on Assange based on one wom-
conference less than than he was looking forward to said, adding his government an Espionage Act indictment an’s allegation of rape and
two hours after he landed. playing with his sons, con- played a role in facilitating that could have carried a another’s allegation of mo-
“Julian wanted me to sincere- ceived while the father was the transport. lengthy prison sentence in lestation. Assange has long
ly thank everyone. He wanted in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Albanese told Parliament that the event of a conviction. maintained his innocence,
to be here. But you have to Embassy in London for seven Assange’s freedom, after he He was holed up for seven and the investigation was
understand what he’s been years. spent five years in a British years before that in the Ec- later dropped.
through. He needs time. He “He described it as a surre- prison fighting extradition to uadorian Embassy in London. He presented himself in 2012
needs to recuperate and this al and happy moment, his the U.S., was the result of his The conclusion enables both to the Ecuadorian Embassy
is a process.” Stella Assange landing here in our national government’s “careful, pa- sides to claim a degree of in London, where he claimed
told reporters. capital, Canberra,” Albanese tient and determined work.” satisfaction. asylum on the grounds of po-
Assange was accused of told reporters in Parliament It is unclear where Assange The Justice Department, fac- litical persecution, and spent
receiving and publishing House. “I had a very warm will go from Canberra and ing a defendant who had the following seven years in
hundreds of thousands of war discussion with him this eve- what his future plans are. already served substantial self-exile there, welcoming a
logs and diplomatic cables ning. He was very generous His South African-born law- jail time, was able to re- parade of celebrity visitors
that included details of U.S. in his praise of the Australian yer wife and mother of his solve without trial a case and making periodic appear-
military wrongdoing in Iraq government’s efforts.” two children, Stella Assange, that raised thorny legal issues ances from the building’s bal-
and Afghanistan. His activi- Robinson said she became has been in Australia for days and that might never have cony to address supporters.
ties drew an outpouring of “very emotional” when she awaiting his release. reached a jury at all given In 2019, his hosts revoked his
support from press freedom overheard Assange’s conver- Another of Julian Assange’s the plodding pace of the ex- asylum, allowing British police
advocates, who heralded his sation with the prime minister. lawyers, Barry Pollack, ex- tradition process. Assange, to arrest him. He remained
role in bringing to light military “Julian thanked him and the pected his client would con- for his part, signaled a be- locked up for the last five
conduct that might otherwise team and told the prime min- tinue vocal campaigning. grudging contentment with years while the Justice De-
have been concealed from ister that he had saved his life. Assange’s father John Ship- the resolution, saying in court partment sought to extra-
view and warned of a chilling And I don’t think that that’s ton said ahead of his son’s that though he believed the dite him, in a process that
effect on journalists. Among an exaggeration,” Robinson arrival that he hoped that his Espionage Act contradicted encountered skepticism from
the files published by WikiLe- said. first-born child was coming the First Amendment, he ac- British judges who worried
aks was a video of a 2007 Assange’s British court hear- home to the “great beauty cepted the consequences of about how Assange would
Apache helicopter attack by ings in which he fought ex- of ordinary life.” soliciting classified informa- be treated by the U.S.
American forces in Baghdad tradition to the United States “He will be able to spend tion from sources for publi- Ultimately, though, the resolu-
that killed 11 people, includ- had heard evidence of his quality time with his wife, cation. tion sparing Assange prison
ing two Reuters journalists. failing health and potential Stella, and his two children, The plea deal, disclosed time in the U.S. contradicts
The case came to a surprise risk for self-harm in the U.S. be able to walk up and down Monday night in a sparsely years of ominous warnings by
end in a most unusual setting penal system. the beach and feel the sand detailed Justice Department Assange and his supporters
with Assange, 52, entering his Assange was accompanied through his toes in winter, that letter, represents the latest that the American criminal

plea in a U.S. district court on the flights by Australian lovely chill,” Shipton said. and presumably final chap- justice system would expose
in Saipan, the capital of the Ambassador to the United The plea deal required As- ter in a court fight involving him to unduly harsh treat-
Northern Mariana Islands. The States Kevin Rudd and High sange to admit guilt to a the eccentric Australian com- ment, including potentially
American commonwealth in Commissioner to the United single felony count but also puter expert who has been the death penalty — some-
the Pacific is relatively close Kingdom Stephen Smith, both permitted him to return to celebrated by supporters thing prosecutors never
to Assange’s native Austra- of whom played key roles in Australia without any time as a transparency crusader sought.q