EXTRADITION BATTLE
Assange had been detained in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London since April 2019.
He was arrested after spending seven years in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced accusations of sexual assault that were eventually dropped.
The material he released through WikiLeaks included a video showing civilians being killed by fire from a US helicopter gunship in Iraq in 2007. The victims included a photographer and a driver from Reuters.
The United States accused Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act and supporters warned he risked being sentenced to 175 years in prison.
The British government approved his extradition in June 2022 but, in a recent twist, two British judges said in May that he could appeal against the transfer.
The plea deal was not entirely unexpected. US President Joe Biden had been under growing pressure to drop the long-running case against Assange.
The Australian government made an official request to that effect in February and Biden said he would consider it, raising hopes among Assange supporters that his ordeal might end.
In the first official US reax to the plea deal, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that as the case is about to go before a judge, “I think it’s appropriate for me to not comment on the matter at this time”.
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