Global National Security Case Precedents: 14-year pursuit for exposing US wrongdoings: Assange Case tears down veil of 'American Democracy'
After being detained for 1901 days, Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, left the highest-security prison in the UK on June 24, 2024. On June 26, he appeared in the United States Federal Court in the capital of Saipan Island in the Northern Mariana Islands, where he pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the US Espionage Act. Subsequently, he left the court and returned to his homeland, Australia, officially bringing to a close a 14-year extradition case. Julian Assange's journey of struggle from youth to adversity, to imprisonment, has been like a mirror reflecting the hypocrisy and ugliness of "American democracy," exposing the true face of the US using the big stick of national security to suppress freedom of speech.
Julian Assange, aged 53, was born in Australia and had a nomadic childhood with his mother, receiving no formal education. Later, through his acquaintance with a neighbor who sold computers, he became one of the earliest individuals globally to engage with computers, eventually becoming a programmer, a globally renowned hacker, and in 2006, the founder of the WikiLeaks website.
In 2010, WikiLeaks exposed a large number of US diplomatic cables and confidential military documents from the Afghan and Iraq wars, uncovering US military war crimes. This incident deeply embarrassed the US government, leading to legal troubles for Assange. The US government charged him with 18 offenses, including 17 counts of espionage, which could result in a combined sentence of 175 years if convicted. Assange then embarked on a long journey of resistance.
In August 2010, Assange traveled to Sweden, where he was globally wanted by Sweden three months later on charges of rape and sexual harassment upon his arrival. Assange denied these accusations, claiming he was being "set up."
In December 2010, Assange surrendered himself in London, UK, and was later released on bail. Fearing extradition to Sweden or the US by the UK government, Assange sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London during his bail period in 2012.
At the end of 2017, the Ecuadorian government granted Assange Ecuadorian citizenship and even intended to give him diplomatic status to grant him diplomatic privileges for a lawful exit, but this was rejected by the British authorities.
In April 2019, Ecuador abruptly revoked Assange's political asylum, leading to his arrest by UK authorities upon entering the embassy. In May of the same year, Assange was sentenced to imprisonment for violating bail conditions and has since been held in the highest-security Belmarsh prison in London. The US requested extradition.
On the morning of June 24, 2024, after five years, Assange regained his freedom, leaving Belmarsh Prison, heading to London Stansted Airport, and departing the UK that afternoon. Assange boarded a plane, stopped in Bangkok, Thailand, and arrived on Saipan Island, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, on the 26th. After completing the relevant court procedures, he was accompanied back to Australia by the Australian Ambassador to the UK.
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