Stella Assange says husband needs time to recuperate after arriving in Australia following plea deal with US
Assange’s lawyer says he entered the Ecuadorian embassy to seek asylum and remained there under threat of arrest for about seven years. That plus Belmarsh equals about 14 years that “Assange has had restrictions on his liberty”. The US government is only counting the Belmarsh years.
US attorney McKenzie says that’s correct – they are only counting the years after he was arrested in relation to this specific case.
Judge Manglona is speaking about the calculation of sentencing now. There’s a lot of legalese and reading of various provisions and guidelines.
She says Julian Assange is entitled a credit of time served for the entire time he has been imprisoned at Belmarsh, which he entered on 11 April 2019 – serving 62 months – as a direct result of the US government seeking his extradition.
She notes that Assange has described a “14 year ordeal” but she needs to work out how that 14 years applies here (given that most of it was not a formal prison sentence).
The court is back in session, and we are now going forward to the sentencing phase.
As the court is about to return from its 20 minute break, here is what we know so far:
Judge Manglona has accepted Julian Assange’s guilty plea to a US espionage charge.
Assange faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000. After a sentence is pronounced, the court could still set a probationary period of one to five years.
In explaining what he is pleading guilty to, Assange said he “encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information” while working as a journalist.
Assange arrived at the Saipan court earlier this morning, supported by Australia’s ambassador to the US and former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, and high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith.
Saipan is the largest island and capital of the Mariana islands, a US commonwealth. It was chosen as the location for the hearing because Assange is opposed to travelling to the continental US, and its proximity to his native Australia – roughly 3,000km.
The hearing was conducted in front of a full courtroom, where Judge Manglona kept proceedings moving quickly.
Assange’s father, John Shipton, said welcomed his imminent return to Australia, saying: “doing cartwheels is a good expression of the joy that one feels that Julian is [returning] home.”
WikiLeaks flagged on X that Assange may depart for Canberra, Australia’s capital, on Flight VJT199 later today.
The prime minister of Australia has weighed in on the Julian Assange case at a press conference in Canberra, the nation’s capital, just a moment ago.
Anthony Albanese noted the legal proceedings were still ongoing and said “those proceedings are sensitive and should be respected.” He continued:
This is not something that has happened in the last 24 hours, this is something that has been considered, patient, worked through in a calibrated way, which is how Australia conducts ourselves internationally.
Given those proceedings are happening literally in real-time it is not appropriate to provide further commentary. We have engaged and advocated Australia’s interest using appropriate channels to support the positive outcome, and you would now be aware of the assistance being provided to Mr Assange – including the presence right now of high commissioner [Stephen] Smith as well as ambassador [Kevin] Rudd there as part of providing that support.
I have been very clear as Labor leader and as prime minister that regardless of what your views about Mr Assange’s activities, his case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained from his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia. That is something I’ve said as Labor leader, something I’ve said as prime minister and is something that I will have more to say about once these legal proceedings have concluded, which I hope will be very soon.
Here are five things to know about the Northern Mariana Islands, via AFP
1. Closer to Australia
Surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean, the Northern Mariana Islands is a tiny, remote outpost of the world’s largest economy. Its closest large neighbours are Japan, the Philippines and, most notably in this case, Australia – Julian Assange’s home country, where he will return after the plea deal is completed.
2. US territory
People from the Northern Mariana Islands are US citizens but hold different rights to people from the 50 states – for example, they cannot vote in presidential elections.
3. Wartime history
The archipelago was colonised by Spain in 1668, with war and disease wiping out most of the Indigenous population. The US won Guam in 1898 after the Spanish-American War but sold the neighbouring Northern Mariana Islands to Germany.
The islands were administered in the early 20th century by Japan, which brought in thousands of labourers and invaded Guam from there in the second world war. The United States captured the territory in 1944 in the battle of Saipan.
4. Tropical destination
The islands are dependent on energy imports but have a growing tourist industry, especially from China and South Korea. It is also close to and shares a name with the Mariana Trench, the deepest known point in the world’s oceans, which has long fascinated scientists and explorers.
5. Natural disasters
There are 14 islands in the Northern Mariana Islands chain, which runs roughly north-south for about 600km (370 miles). They are dotted with active volcanoes and typhoon season runs from July to January.
It’s 10.47am in Saipan, and the court is taking a 20-minute break.
Assange rises.
Judge Manglona speaks to the charge against him: How do you now plead?
Assange: guilty to the information.
Manglona: guilty to the sole charge?
Assange: Yes.
Manglona: It is the finding of this court ... that the plea of guilty is now accepted.
The defendant is found guilty.
Small error almost uncaught
Judge Manglona asks Julian Assange to rise, but then his lawyer asks quickly to confer with government counsel. Assange leans towards them in an apparent attempt to hear before Robinson grabs him on the arm to speak. Kevin Rudd also leans in for a brief exchange. We can’t hear what they’re saying.
His lawyer says there was a clarification about an agreed edit which didn’t make it into the final draft. It’s about potential breaches of the agreement which could violate it or cause the court to reject it. He wants to make sure that everything there is listed as “intentionally” to avoid any ambiguities.
It’s a small error but one that very nearly wasn’t caught. Both sides agree to do a quick fix now.
Judge Manglona says we’re nearly done with this “change of plea” section, then there will be a 15 minute recess before the “final stage”.
