The wife of journalist and activist Julian Assange, Stella Assange, has expressed concern about her husband’s trip from the United Kingdom to the Northern Mariana Islands, a territory of the United States, between June 24 and June 26.
Julian was released on June 24 from the maximum security prison where he had been held for more than five years in London, and flew to the place where the hearing will take place. The journalist should then be released to his country of origin, Australia.
“We need all eyes on his flight in case something goes wrong,” Stella wrote on her X profile. “Julian won’t be safe until he lands in Australia. Please keep tracking his flight.”
The Mariana Islands are a territory of the country in the Pacific, closer to Australia than to the American continent. According to the New York Times, he will appear in court in the city of Saipan on June 26, where the agreement will be formalized. According to the AFP news agency, the activist has agreed to plead guilty to revealing military secrets.
After pleading guilty, Assange is expected to be sentenced to 62 months in prison. The time, however, is less than the 5 years the activist has already served, which means that he will be released after the hearing.
The information about his release was published by WikiLeaks, which Assange owns and through which he published information about crimes committed by the US military in campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, in the so-called “War on Terror”.
Also speaking to AFP, Stella Assange said that “the important thing here is that the deal involved time served that if he signed it, he would be able to walk free.”
Now, said his wife, the priority is for Julian to recover his health. “He’s been in a terrible state for five years. To just be in contact with nature, that’s what we both desire for now. And to have time and privacy and just start this new chapter,” concluded Stella.
According to WikiLeaks, Julian Assange’s freedom is “the result of a global campaign that spanned grassroots organizers, press freedom advocates, lawmakers and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations.”
“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,” the website published.
“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.”
This article was translated from an article originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.
