Julian Assange is reportedly going to ask for a pardon after admitting guilt to breaching US espionage legislation following an agreement with the US that saw him released from a Britain’s harshest prison and granted him permission to return to his home country, Australia.
The founder of WikiLeaks, who had been imprisoned in the UK for the previous five years, is scheduled to appear before a US courthouse located in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Meanwhile, Stella Assange, Assange’s wife, said on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday that her husband had arrived in Bangkok and would shortly be leaving for the United States. The US President would decide on any pardon to be granted to him.
“Julian Assange’s flight VJ199 landed in Bangkok and will soon take off again and fly into US airspace where he will appear before a US judge. Please follow #AssangeJet, we need all eyes on his flight in case something goes wrong,” she wrote, sharing a link to flight tracker, Flight Aware.
She further expressed to his supporters, mentioning that “words cannot express our immense gratitude”.
Assange boards jet, set to united with his wife and kids
On Monday, a London High Court granted Assange bail, and he was brought to Stansted Airport where he boarded a flight. In its X account, WikiLeaks released video of him getting to the airport and boarding the jet.
It stated that Assange would soon “reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars,” after spending 1901 days alone in a 2 by 3 meter prison for 23 hours per day.
Stella informed the Press Association news agency that the Australian Government would pay the $500,000 (£393,715) cost of Assange’s travel. She informed the BBC that the money will be reimbursed by the Assange campaign.
She further said that she hasn’t disclosed the news to her kids yet but told them that they will get a “big surprise” in Australia.
Assange’s wife told the BBC Radio 4 Today program that she and her sons have already travelled to Australia in anticipation of her husband’s release.
According to records filed with the US district court for the Northern Mariana Islands, Assange consented to enter a guilty plea to a misdemeanor criminal offense of obtaining and disclosing secret US national defense documents.
‘We want to bring him to Australia’: Albanese on Assange
Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, is traveling with Assange, according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
“Regardless of the views that people have about Julian Assange and his activities, the case has dragged on for too long, there is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want to bring him to his home to Australia,” the Australian PM stated on Tuesday, as per media reports.
The plea deal was reached months after US President Joe Biden indicated he was contemplating about Australia’s request to end the US prosecution of Assange.
WikiLeaks attempted the greatest security breaches in US military history in 2010, when it released several classified US military records on Washington’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as a stockpile of diplomatic cables.