Freedom for Julian Assange: Also for freedom of expression?

On Monday, June 24, 2024, the WikiLeaks portal, through its account on X, announced that Julian Assange left the Belmarsh maximum-security prison in the United Kingdom, where he had been held for more than five years. The journalist and cyber activist was granted bail by the High Court of London. Immediately, he was transferred to Stansted Airport en route to the Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory where he will appear on Wednesday 26 at 9:00 a.m. local time (23:00 GMT on Tuesday).

Assange is expected to plead guilty to the alleged leak of classified U.S. material. This way, the Department of Justice could avoid him serving his sentence in a U.S. prison, as the Department of Justice prosecutor reached an agreement where his 62-month sentence would be covered by the time he was imprisoned in the United Kingdom.

Who is Julian Assange?

In 2006, Julian Assange founded WikiLeaks, a digital media outlet that leaked highly classified and confidential information. This portal has made publications that have had an impact on politics and cybersecurity. In 2007, WikiLeaks published the U.S. Army manual for soldiers at Camp Delta, Guantánamo. Then, in 2008, it revealed several documents with sensitive information about the Church of Scientology. Later, from 2010 to 2011, it exposed a large number of classified U.S. government documents about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a video showing a U.S. Apache helicopter attack on journalists and civilians in Iraq.

What were the charges against Assange?

In August 2010, Julian Assange faced Swedish justice after being accused of sexual assault. Although this order was revoked, in November of the same year, the Stockholm Criminal Court ordered his international detention. A month later, the WikiLeaks founder turned himself in to British authorities, who granted him house arrest on bail. However, a Swedish judge ordered his extradition to serve his sentence in a Stockholm prison. In response, Assange applied for political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which was granted in June 2012.

During Assange's asylum period, WikiLeaks continued to publish controversial documents, such as the Democratic National Committee emails in July 2016, and John Podesta's hacked emails in October of the same year. For this reason, in April 2017, U.S. authorities announced a series of measures to capture him. However, by May 2017, the Swedish Prosecutor's Office had dropped the investigation against Assange for the crime of sexual assault. Finally, in November 2019, Swedish justice definitively closed this case.

In April 2019, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno ordered the withdrawal of Assange's political asylum and Ecuadorian nationality. Immediately, the WikiLeaks creator was arrested by London's Metropolitan Police inside the Ecuadorian Embassy. The U.S. justice system had requested an arrest warrant against him for the alleged crime of conspiracy, as well as 17 other charges under the Espionage Act.

Likewise, British justice sentenced him to 50 weeks after being found guilty of violating his bail conditions when he was seeking asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.

In June 2022, the British government accepted Assange's extradition to the United States to face the 18 charges he was accused of. However, in March 2024, Assange appealed this order, and his extradition was temporarily suspended. Finally, on June 24, 2024, the U.S. government reached an agreement with Assange to avoid his return to prison and allow him to return to his country.

What does the Assange and U.S. Government agreement imply?

Julian Assange, accused of 18 crimes under the Espionage Act, is said to have reached an agreement with the Joe Biden administration to gain his freedom. This agreement involves pleading guilty and serving a 62-month prison sentence. However, this sentence will be covered by the time Assange was imprisoned in the British prison of Belmarsh.

The trial where Assange will appear is scheduled for Wednesday at 9:00 a.m. local time (23:00 GMT on Tuesday). This event will take place in a court in the Mariana Islands, as it is a U.S. territory geographically close to Australia. For this reason, on June 24, 2024, Assange was released from his prison in London and transferred to the airport, where he took a flight to the Mariana Islands.

This news was disseminated and celebrated by WikiLeaks members, as well as by Assange's family. Political leaders like the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also welcomed this news positively. Meanwhile, the Australian press has highlighted the importance and influence of the country's diplomacy in reaching an agreement with the United States.

Assange: Hero or villain?

Norberto Bobbio, in his book Democracy and Secrecy, presents the dilemma between defending principles to safeguard state security and the possibility of employing mechanisms outside the law to preserve individual liberty and security. The case of Assange has posed a complex dichotomy between being considered a hero or a villain. This has depended on the perspective from which his internet activism is evaluated. On one hand, Assange is seen as a defender of freedom of expression, transparency, and human rights. This is reflected in the various publications of WikiLeaks, which have exposed numerous cases of corruption, abuse of power, and violations of human rights by governments and other political organizations. On the other hand, his critics point to the use of irregular methods to obtain sensitive information and its consequences for cybersecurity. For this reason, they consider his actions, such as espionage and conspiracy, to constitute serious crimes that endanger national security and diplomacy.