Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been released from prison in England after making a deal with the United States the world

Founder WikiLeaks, Julian AssangeHe was released from prison in the UK on Monday (24) after reaching an agreement with a court. to us to plead guilty to espionage chargesWikiLeaks announced in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

As part of the agreement, Assange will plead guilty this week to violating US espionage laws, according to a document issued by US courts. He will face charges of conspiracy to obtain and release US national security documents at a hearing in the Northern Mariana Islands at 8 p.m.

Under the deal, Assange must serve 62 months in prison, which he has already served in the United Kingdom. After a guilty plea and trial, Assange will be officially released He is also expected to return to his country of citizenship, Australia.

According to the US court, the trial will be conducted in the Northern Mariana Islands and not in the US due to the proximity of the islands to Australia.

The US wanted to try Assange for leaking 700,000 classified documents since 2010, mainly about US military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. If extradited to the United States, he could face up to 175 years in prison. See below for more details on the leaks below.

U.S. officials said the leak put lives at risk as the identities of those who collaborated with the military in the Middle East were exposed.

In 2019, the US Department of Justice described the WikiLeaks leaks as “one of the largest leaks of classified information in US history”.

“My client is being prosecuted for carrying out the common journalistic practice of obtaining and publishing confidential information, factual information and information of clear and important public interest,” Assange’s lawyer Edward Fitzgerald told the court.

Clair Dobbin, a lawyer representing the United States, said Assange had released the names of “people who acted as sources of information for the United States.”

In January 2021, a British court initially rejected an extradition request to the United States. However, a US appeal in December 2021 saw a British court quash the first decision, opening the way for extradition – until this week’s hearing.

Appeal against deportation

The court’s decision came weeks after British judges Ask the US government for more information About the case – considered a new victory for Assange.

If extradited to his country of citizenship, Assange could face up to 175 years in prison in the United States. The US Department of Justice wants to prosecute him For leaking 700,000 classified documents since 2010 on US military and diplomatic operationsMainly in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The WikiLeaks founder has been imprisoned in the UK since 2019, after seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he sought asylum in Sweden to avoid extradition on sexual assault charges, which were later withdrawn.

Before the trial, Assange’s wife warned of the 52-year-old Australian’s frail health.

“His health is deteriorating, physically and mentally. Every day he is in prison his life is in danger, and if he is deported, he will die,” Stella Assange said at the end of May.