WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange to Be Freed After Pleading Guilty in US Espionage Deal

Julian Assange, the controversial founder of the whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks, is set to be released after reaching a landmark plea agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice. The deal brings an end to a tumultuous 14-year legal battle that began after WikiLeaks published hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. military and diplomatic documents in 2010.

Under the terms of the agreement, which was revealed in federal court filings, Assange will plead guilty to a single felony charge under the Espionage Act for conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information. In exchange, U.S. prosecutors will seek a sentence of 62 months—the exact amount of time he has already served in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London while fighting extradition to the United States. This “time served” sentence means he will not face any additional prison time in the U.S.

Assange was released from Belmarsh on Monday and boarded a flight to Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific. The unusual location was chosen to accommodate Assange’s opposition to traveling to the continental United States and its proximity to his native Australia, where he is expected to return after the court proceedings conclude on Wednesday.

The resolution marks a stunning conclusion to a case that has been a focal point for debates on press freedom, national security, and the ethics of digital journalism. Supporters hail Assange as a journalist who exposed wrongdoing, while critics, including many U.S. officials, have long argued that his indiscriminate publication of unredacted documents endangered lives and compromised national security. Press freedom advocates had feared that a U.S. trial could set a dangerous legal precedent, effectively criminalizing the routine journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing classified information. The plea deal avoids this potential showdown, concluding one of the most significant and polarizing chapters of the internet age.