A very discreet Australian-American-British diplomatic ballet preluded the release of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, analysts and a diplomat who took part explained to AFP on Tuesday.
After nearly 14 years of legal saga, the 52-year-old Australian computer scientist was released from prison in the United Kingdom and was on his way Tuesday to a court in the Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific, where he will plead guilty to the terms of an agreement allowing him to regain his freedom.
Prosecuted by American justice for having published since 2010 more than 700,000 confidential documents on American military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan, he theoretically faced up to 175 years in prison.
His release, announced by WikiLeaks, had been under discussion “for some time,” Jared Mondschein, director of research at the Center for United States Studies at the University of Sydney, told AFP.
He said US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy — daughter of former US President John Kennedy — was “talking about this in recent months” and “emphasizing that there was a way to resolve this.”
According to the political scientist, the United States did not want to drop the charges against Julian Assange: “they wanted him to plead guilty and had to figure out how to do that without him being in the United States.”
“That said, the deal is not yet completely concluded,” he insists. “It appears there is an agreement to plead guilty, but if there is anything we have learned during this long saga it is that we should take nothing for granted and see where we are in 24 at 48 hours. »
American justice is prosecuting Julian Assange for having made public since 2010 more than 700,000 confidential documents on American military and diplomatic activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Initially targeted by 18 charges, he theoretically faced up to 175 years in prison. Under the terms of the guilty plea agreement, he is expected to be sentenced to 62 months in prison, already served on remand in London which would allow him to return free to his native Australia.
Exiting a “dead end”
The situation began to change after the election in May 2022 of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who made his release a priority, explains on condition of anonymity a person who worked on the case as a diplomat several years ago years.
Julian Assange was previously advised to plead guilty. “The political winds changed and that also played a role in convincing people in the United States that we needed to act more quickly,” this person said.
The Australian Parliament passed a motion in early 2024, with the support of the Prime Minister, demanding that Julian Assange be able to return to his family.
Emma Shortis, a researcher in international and security affairs at the think tank The Australia Institute, said the Australian government worked “diplomatically behind the scenes” with the administration to promote his release.
“I think part of the reason it happened today is that it was becoming an important issue for diplomatic relations,” she said, particularly since the AUKUS military cooperation agreement (acronym from English Australia, United Kingdom and United States).
According to her, “the Assange affair which clearly threatens international rights to freedom of expression was truly irreconcilable” with the discourse according to which US-Australian relations “were based on shared democratic values” which served as an argument for the signing of this pact.
Johan Lidberg, head of the journalism department at Australia’s Monash University, recalls that US President Joe Biden suggested in April that his administration was “taking into consideration” Canberra’s request to drop charges against of Mr. Assange.
All parties, including London in a position of intermediary, sought to break out of “this impasse from which no one really benefited,” he concluded.