Assange, who spent the last five years in a maximum-security British prison, pleaded guilty to a felony for publishing US military secrets in 2010 and 2011, specifically Pentagon’s military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Australian journalist, who has fought extradition to the northern country all this time, appeared at the hearing scheduled for this Wednesday in court in this capital, in the Northern Mariana Islands, a Pacific US territory,

So ended the legal ordeal to which Assange had been subjected to years of persecution for asserting the right to information through WikiLeaks. The Department of Justice agreed to hold the hearing in the Northern Mariana Islands because Assange refused to enter the United States mainland since he was on his way home (Australia).

Before being detained in London, the WikiLeaks founder spent seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London (2012-2019) to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was accused of rape and sexual assault, which he has always denied.

Assange arrived in Saipan on Tuesday “to formalize the deal that should never have occurred,” WikiLeaks reported on its X profile.

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