The democratic west out there engaging in one of the longest and most dramatic repressions of a journalist in history.

Absolutely disgusting how radlibs turned on him as soon as the media blamed Wikileaks for “aiding Russia”

The r/worldnews thread is full of people calling him a Russian agent, traitor, etc.
- Fucking idiots will turn on anyone the media tells them to.
- Permanently Deleted
I remember talking with my ex about him, I remember her saying "I used to be very interested in what he had to share, but when he started going after Hillary I thought, wait a minute... who's side are you on?" I'll never forget the way she said that. Like, this dude is exposing grotesque violations of human lives, but he dared to cast a stain on the golden goddess Hillary Clinton, so it's actually cool and good that he should rot in prison forever.

Also had an argument with this ex where I brought her to the jaw-dropping admission that she believed Cuba should surrender to the US's siege and give up their right to self-determination, purely because it would mean the people of Cuba would theoretically suffer less under the rule of the empire whose boot is currently upon their throat.
- Yeesh, wonder why they're an ex

Amazing. He needs to move to a decent country and then write a book about the horror he experienced once he gets some psychological counseling for the PTSD. This man's a fucking hero.

I'm glad he's free but goddamn I don't think he's going to be straight for awhile, dude is really going to need some time to heal. Solitary confinement is torture and it's crazy how the prison system uses it with such ease.

floppy-owl

Fuck the US, seriously

Incredible news.

I don't think it can be understated just how much damage this man did to US credibility through wikileaks. I have no idea if he has the skillset he once had or the connections that enabled it but they incredible damage to the US and they hunted him relentlessly for it to set an example. And it worked flawlessly. Other outlets became considerably more on the side of the US in the aftermath of crackdowns on Assange and police raids of any news org that was publishing anything the US didn't like, the UK Guardian being an obvious famous example of this when the authorities raided them for Snowden's harddrives and forced them to take angle grinders to the drives while GCHQ operatives observed.

I wonder what "negotiations" took place. Is he allowed to go back to journalism if he wanted to?

It's hard to believe. But it's easy to believe the lack of attention this news is getting

Huh, was kinda never expecting to see the day.

Obviously a very good thing he's free but it sucks he had to spend so long in such awful conditions, I imagine you'd never fully get over that sort of experience (real doomer hours from me tonight I guess).

I thought he was going to quietly break his hyoid bone at some point TBH.
- Same

if I were him you would not catch my ass in any country with a US extradition treaty

The dude needs to flee to Russia asap and never leave.

no fucking way he's free? holy shit he's free!

Hell yes, good news for once

Sorry to hear about his impending accidental death

🥲

Wow! I never though that I would see the day. Death to America, and all its vassals.

holy shit, this is incredible news :D

It sounds like the people around him are confident it's a done deal, with his time in Belmarsh acting as 'time served' for a more minor breach of thae espionage act.

But I'd still be worried the US pulls some shit as:

Assange is scheduled to appear in a federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the western Pacific, where he is expected to plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information. The extradition request is expected to be dropped and Assange won’t face any other charges.

The hearing is taking place in the Northern Mariana Islands because of Assange’s opposition to travelling to the US mainland and the court’s proximity to Australia.

Prosecutors have agreed to a sentence of five years, but have said the time already served in a British prison will count towards this. This means that he will probably walk free after the sentencing.

The guilty plea must still be approved by a judge, but if it is, he is expected to return to Australia after the sentencing.

What if the judge says 'no' and gives him a much harsher sentence to be detained by the US?

What if they just straight up black bag him?

On a tiny Island with only one or two witnesses instead of a busy city with a (nominally) free and interested press.

I hope this is the end of the ordeal for him, I truly do, but I don't think I'd ever believe it until I was safely in a country I was sure would never extradite or collaborate with the US. Although right now it's clear he doesn't have much of a choice.

Permanently Deleted

party-blob

Sentenced to transportation to Australia

Permanently Deleted

So, anyone want to place bets on where they're going? Russia? China? Back home?

Australia. This part of the post was cut off in the image.

from eX twitter.

WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles,and for the people's right to know.

As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom.

Julian's freedom is our freedom.

[More details to follow] 7:50 PM · Jun 24, 2024 · 256.7K Views There’s a new version of this post. See the latest
- Sure, but will they stay there? If they do, I hope he can life his remaining life with his family in relative peace.
Russia
- aussies would take him tho, no? i thought labor made some noises of sympathy

Australia is even more subservient to the US than the UK. He should not be going to Australia.

Yeah I don't get that decision

Damn, this made an otherwise shit day actually feel better bloomer . Truly uplifting news and a big fat Death to AmeriKKKa and everyone else who targeted and tortured him for the crime of exposing their atrocities to the world.

Holy shit. wow wow wow wow wow

I had kind of assumed it would never happen. Incredible news.

Go on boy boy

If he comes back to australia and gets into politics, Im nervous hell unite a lot of the worst people and be some third way fascist, his fathers a chud whos been given a lot of attention about all of this, while also not hesitating to participate in panel discussions with fascists

the whole thing makes me sick to my stomach, there are so many people unjustly held in prison and this guys all a lot of people seem to care about

Assange might not be a good person but that is not the point, he did something objectively good by reporting on US war crimes and that is why he is being persecuted by the evil empire. We want reports like these to be made in the future as well and the release of Assange is a good thing as it somewhat detracts from the chilling effect the brutal treatment he has received has had on journalists.

He should still be ruthlessly denounced for any form of reactionary thought but the evil empire backing down from their persecution of him is good. It shows that they are afraid they can't even win in their own courts.
the fuck?
He wasn’t raised by his father. Actually he spent part of his childhood in an infamous child abusing cult, so it’s really not fair to associate his family with his character.
He isn’t a fascist. The combination of the (likely politically motivated) rape allegations and leaking of Clinton’s emails meant he was abandoned by the left, so that his support base consists of crackpots, libertarians and PMC radlib types united only by free speech brainworms. Whenever I’ve heard Julian speak he’s sounded fundamentally left wing to me, albeit not in a Marxist sense obviously.
I doubt he’ll involve himself in electoral politics. Apart from likely being extremely burnt out an d traumatised, he already tried to start a Wikileaks party in Australia years ago and it never really went anywhere.
As for the allegations against him, (which is the only meaningful criticism against him that can be made), it’s worth bearing in mind that he always said he would willingly go to Sweden to fight them in court, so long as he received assurance that he wouldn’t be extradited to the US. An assurance Sweden always refused to give.