"}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What impact did Julian Assange have?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Assange founded the WikiLeaks website, which published thousands of confidential leaked documents from sources including the U.S. government, large corporations and personal emails."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"What did WikiLeaks release?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"It published thousands of US military field logs from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq war, diplomatic cables from the United States and Saudi Arabia, and emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey."}},{"@type":"Question","name":"Is Julian Assange a felon?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to a single felony charge for publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that secures his freedom and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security."}}]}}

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison (2024)

LONDON -- When WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sets foot in his native Australia Wednesday, he will be a free man for the first time after 14 years spent in some form of confinement while attempting to avoid U.S. prosecution.

He will also meet his two young sons for the first time ever outside of prison.

Assange is due to appear in federal court in the Northern Marianas Islands, a remote U.S. territory in the Western Pacific, early Wednesday morning local time, where he will plead guilty to one felony count of illegally obtaining and classified information as part of a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors. After that, he is expected to fly to his native Australia. There he will be met by his wife, Stella and their two young sons, who have never known him outside of captivity.

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison (1)

“When we met he was under house arrest. It will be the first time that I get to see him as a fully free man,” Stella Assange told Reuters on Tuesday, after news of the plea deal was announced.

Stella first met Assange as his lawyer in 2011 when he was under house arrest in the U.K. fighting extradition to Sweden on potential sexual assault charges. Shortly afterward, Assange fled to Ecuador’s embassy in London to avoid the charges. He remained trapped there for seven years, facing arrest if he stepped outside.

Assange and Stella began a relationship while he was confined in the embassy, and they conceived their two sons there.

MORE: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange expected to plead guilty, avoid further prison time as part of deal with US

In 2019, Assange was arrested by U.K. police after Ecuador evicted him from the embassy and a British court sentenced him to 50 weeks in London's Belmarsh prison for violating his bail conditions related to the Swedish sexual assault charges, even though Swedish prosecutors by then had dropped the charges. Since then, Assange has spent the past five years in Belmarsh, one of the U.K.’s most high-security prisons.

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison (2)

The couple’s sons, Gabriel and Max, aged 7 and 5, have only ever met their father in visitor rooms during twice-a-month visits to Belmarsh. In 2022, Stella and Assange married in a ceremony held at the prison.

Stella Assange described the visits to ABC News last summer, saying each time she and the boys had to endure searches by guards, including in their mouths, and be examined by sniffer dogs.

At the time, Stella said she feared Assange wouldn’t survive being extradited to the U.S.

“If he’s taken to the U.S. I can feel it that he will never come home,” she told ABC outside the prison, following one such visit.

MORE: Sweden reopens rape case against Assange as WikiLeaks founder faces extradition

Assange was confined to his cell in Belmarsh 23 hours a day, according to a journalist who wrote in The Nation about visiting him in prison last year. A United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture in 2019 criticized British authorities, saying the handling of Assange's case put in doubt the U.K.'s commitment to human rights, and saying his treatment in Belmarsh amounted to “psychological torture”.

Stella Assange said the family now plans to spend time recovering in Australia, where the government has pressed the U.S. for years to free Assange. The sensitivity of the plea deal and the need to avoid leaks meant Stella decided not to tell her sons of their father’s release even as they flew to Australia to meet him, she said in an interview with BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday.

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison (3)

"We got on the plane and I told them that we were going to visit our family, their cousin, their grandfather and so on. And they still don't know,” she told Radio 4. "We've been very careful because, obviously, no one can stop a five- and a seven-year-old from shouting it from the rooftops at any given moment.

Stella Assange led the campaign to free Assange over the years, defending him as a journalist being persecuted for his publishing evidence of misconduct by the U.S. government and military.

U.S. prosecutors' decision to charge Assange under the Espionage Act alarmed press freedom advocates and also leading U.S. media organizations, which feared the decision risked setting a precedent that could criminalize the publication of government secrets, something news outlets routinely do. Major news organizations, including The New York Times, had urged the Biden administration to drop the case.

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison (4)

Stella Assange said the plea deal still posed that danger to news organizations in the U.S. because even though it carried no additional prison time, Assange had still been convicted under the Espionage Act. She said Assange’s team intends to seek a full pardon following his release.

“The correct course of action from the U.S. government should have been to drop the case entirely,” she told Reuters. “The fact that there is a guilty plea under the Espionage Act in relation to obtaining and disclosing national defense information is obviously a very serious concern for journalists."

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison (2024)

FAQs

Julian Assange to reunite with family that has only known him in prison? ›

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was reunited with his family after touching down in his native Australia on Wednesday — just hours after pleading guilty to publishing US military secrets in a deal that sets him free after a 14-year legal saga.

What secrets did Julian Assange reveal? ›

Civilian torture, killings in Afghanistan and Iraq

These records, totalling over 90,000 incidents and intelligence reports, brought attention to US military operations and revealed how coalition forces were responsible for numerous unreported civilian casualties, which were much higher than the numbers reported.

Has Julian Assange been released? ›

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in court in Saipan in a deal that ended a 14-year legal ordeal. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has arrived in Australia after he was freed by a United States court in Saipan under a plea deal.

How many children has Julian Assange? ›

Julian Assange once boasted he had at least four children in perhaps as many countries, but surprisingly, for a champion of truth, no-one knows if that's true. The freed WikiLeaks founder has three confirmed offspring from two relationships but rumours persist that he may have many more - fuelled by his own comments.

What did Julian Assange allegedly do? ›

Mr Assange was accused of conspiring to break into its military databases to acquire sensitive information, and was charged with 18 offences. Efforts were made to bring him to the US for prosecution - which he fought for 14 years in some of the world's highest courts.

Who gave Julian Assange his information? ›

In 2010 while working with WikiLeaks, Assange was contacted by Chelsea Manning (then Bradley Manning), who gave him classified information containing various military operations conducted by the US government abroad.

What is Assange pleading guilty to? ›

What charge was Julian Assange convicted of? Conspiracy to Obtain and Disclose National Defense Information. That's the exact wording (and spelling) used in the court document, but you might also hear referred to as an "espionage charge".

What did Julian Assange share? ›

What did Julian Assange do? He published US military information about the war in Afghanistan and Iraq through his media organisation called WikiLeaks. Assange was charged for conspiring with Chelsea Manning - who was a US Army intelligence analyst at the time - to publish military documents on the WikiLeaks website.

Does Julian Assange have a wife? ›

Stella Assange (née Sara González Devant; born 1983) is a Swedish-Spanish lawyer. Throughout her career, she has been an international advocate for human rights, most prominently in the case of her husband, Julian Assange. She changed her name first to Stella Moris in 2012 and later to Stella Moris-Smith Robertson.

What nationality was Julian Assange? ›

Where did Julian Assange go to college? ›

What impact did Julian Assange have? ›

Assange founded the WikiLeaks website, which published thousands of confidential leaked documents from sources including the U.S. government, large corporations and personal emails.

What did WikiLeaks release? ›

It published thousands of US military field logs from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq war, diplomatic cables from the United States and Saudi Arabia, and emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey.

Is Julian Assange a felon? ›

Julian Assange has pleaded guilty to a single felony charge for publishing U.S. military secrets in a deal with Justice Department prosecutors that secures his freedom and concludes a drawn-out legal saga that raised divisive questions about press freedom and national security.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Tyson Zemlak

Last Updated:

Views: 6231

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (63 voted)

Reviews: 86% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Tyson Zemlak

Birthday: 1992-03-17

Address: Apt. 662 96191 Quigley Dam, Kubview, MA 42013

Phone: +441678032891

Job: Community-Services Orchestrator

Hobby: Coffee roasting, Calligraphy, Metalworking, Fashion, Vehicle restoration, Shopping, Photography

Introduction: My name is Tyson Zemlak, I am a excited, light, sparkling, super, open, fair, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.