Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has reached a plea agreement with American authorities and was released from a high-security prison near London after five years of incarceration. The 52-year-old Australian immediately left the United Kingdom, marking the end of more than 10 years of legal battles.
Assange launched WikiLeaks in 2006 with the goal of “liberating the press” and uncovering state secrets and abuses. When he published confidential documents on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as American diplomatic cables in 2010, his reputation grew as a champion of freedom of information. However, some hailed him as a “high-tech terrorist,” including Joe Biden.
Assange’s legal troubles escalated in 2010 when Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for him in connection with rape and sexual assault allegations. He denied the charges and sought asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. Despite obtaining Ecuadorian nationality, Assange was arrested by British police in 2019 and faced extradition to the US on charges relating to hacking and espionage. After years of legal battles and extradition requests, Assange finally agreed to plead guilty to US authorities in June 2024, allowing him to leave the United Kingdom and appear in a federal court in the Mariana Islands to face charges of “conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information.” The case has garnered international attention and sparked debate over freedom of information, national security, and the rights of whistleblowers.
