The end has not arrived': Barnaby Joyce on Assange plea deal with US justice department

Guardian News
Jun 25 2024

The former deputy PM cautiously welcomed developments that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US justice department that will allow him to walk free.

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Australian leaders cautiously welcome expected plea that could bring WikiLeaks founder Assange home

Australian lawmakers have cautiously welcomed developments that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will allow him to walk free and resolve a long-running legal saga that spanned multiple continents and centered on the publication of a trove of classified documents.

BY ROD MCGUIRK
Updated 2:45 AM EDT, June 25, 2024

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Australian leaders cautiously welcomed an expected plea agreement that could set free Julian Assange, who was pursued for years over WikiLeaks’ publication of a trove of classified documents.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday there was nothing to be gained by keeping the Australian incarcerated.

A plane thought to be carrying Assange landed Tuesday in Bangkok as he heads to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific midway between Australia and Japan, where he is expected to appear in a U.S. federal court Wednesday local time.

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Public support for Assange has grown in Australia during the seven years he has spent avoiding extradition to the United States by hiding in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London and later during his five years in Belmarsh Prison.

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