The democratic west out there engaging in one of the longest and most dramatic repressions of a journalist in history.
this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2024
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Absolutely disgusting how radlibs turned on him as soon as the media blamed Wikileaks for “aiding Russia”
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.
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.
Sentenced to transportation to Australia
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
The PM is sympathetic to Assange with most of the party.
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese voted in favour of a motion in parliament's lower house calling for the return of WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange to Australia, ahead of a hearing next week at London's High Court on his extradition.
The motion, moved by independent lawmaker Andrew Wilkie, was passed on Wednesday with 86 votes in favour and 42 against after it was supported by the Labor government. Most members of the conservative opposition coalition opposed the motion.
"(The motion) will send a powerful political signal to the British government and to the U.S. government," Wilkie told parliament ahead of the vote.
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 
. 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
Go on boy boy
I had kind of assumed it would never happen. Incredible news.
Not a prisoner; he's a freeman!
holy shit i'm really not used to good news these days i thought this was going to be like:
julian assange is free because he's dead
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.
let's go
When I heard Assange's story he had the benefit of my doubts, but nothing makes a person look guiltier than hexbear singing their praises.