Posted on 06/24/2024 9:41:08 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Julian Assange's 14-year saga as a fugitive and prisoner may be coming to an end. The Wikileaks founder has agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge with the U.S. Justice Department in exchange for no additional prison time. He has already served 5 years in a maximum security prison in England after spending 7 years hiding in an Ecuadorian Embassy.
Assange would only agree to a hearing outside of U.S. soil. Last month he won his right to appeal an extradition order.
High Court judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson ruled for Assange after his lawyers argued that the U.S. government provided “blatantly inadequate” assurances that he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen if extradited from Britain.
In his appeal, he also claimed fear of the death penalty.
He is scheduled to appear at 9 am on Wednesday in Saipan, of the Mariana Islands- a commonwealth of the U.S.
Assange rose to fame in 2010 when Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, helped Wikileaks release classified military files related to Iraq and Afghanistan. He was charged with 18 counts related to the site and faced up to 170 years in prison.
Assange’s lawyers have argued he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”
He will plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to obtain and disseminate classified national defense information unlawfully.
Assange's story has sparked controversy since the beginning due to the nature of his revelations. His supporters revere him as a freedom-of-speech hero, others view him as a traitor.
The U.S. government says Assange’s actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information, amounting to an attempt to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.
Chelsea Manning's sentencing was commuted by President Obama in 2017. He claimed that justice had been adequately served:
I feel very comfortable that justice has been served. Let’s be clear: Chelsea Manning has served a tough prison sentence. The notion that the average person who is thinking about disclosing vital classified information would think that it goes unpunished … I don’t think would get that impression from the sentence that Chelsea Manning has served.
If justice is due for Assange as well, then it has been paid at least in part by the more than a decade he has spent either imprisoned or in hiding. That will not be sufficient for some, and it shouldn't be, but at least it's something. For his supporters, many of the Libertarian party, he will be championed as a hero after his legal dealings end.
Time will tell what Assange will do with his freedom and celebrity status now. He is expected to return to Australia after his plea and sentencing.
Julian Assange. A man of great courage and honor, a real hero.
Deep State won’t be happy with Slow Joe over this.
Say his name! The leaker was a dude called Bradley at the time. Why erase history?
“..he would have the same free speech protections as an American citizen...”
Much like the meritless Garland provides to Trump, with weakling Roberts acquiescing to?
The US Legal Beagle System only gets a Pyyric Victory?
Well said.
Look for Assange to have a fatal accident soon. The elites cannot risk his knowledge becoming known.
Australia is just another prison. It’s just open air.
Quote: “ Australia is just another prison. It’s just open air.”
If you look at its history, that is kind of its thing.
I’m amused by the dumpster-fire of a discussion thread on this subject over on FARK.com
It’s all about how Assange *needs* to be Epsteined before he gets to Australia — How he and Snowden have never been anything other than a stooges for “best buddies” Putin and tRUMP, blah blah blah...
Pepperidge Farm remembers when FARK used to at least pay some sort of lip-service to the idea of diversity of opinion—at least before FARK became what it is now, which is essentially a (far more radical) annex for Democratic Underground.
Pepperidge Farm ALSO remembers how Assange, Snowden, Elon Musk and numerous others were (not so long ago) lauded as “heroes” amongst that crowd.
Of course, once the Media Bellwether began to bleat, and lead the sheep in a different direction...
“In his appeal, he also claimed fear of the death penalty.”
As opposed to looking forward to it, I guess?
One does have to ask why the US government is ‘cutting a deal’ with him just prior to the 2024 election.
Perhaps they know that the Brits were going to free him and so they’re getting whatever flesh off him as they can by getting him to plead guilty to felonies?
Why is this different from exposing the pentagon papers which action the left cheered?
Hillary and John are still hacked off over it.
It is a shame that this is the only way the police state would free him.
FARK lost me a while ago - it was edgy but that was a long time ago....lol
Between you and me I’m surprised that he’s still above ground.
5.56mm
The Pyrrhic Victory will be for the few members of the cabal who are allowed to spend life in prison rather than undergo military execution in return for their testimony, while most of their fellow cabal members go the the gallows.
This will come after we’re told what really happened to Seth Rich and why.
I realized at the time that I missed the real definition of “Pyrrhic” by perhaps more than a bit.
Thanks for your example.
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