For those catching up on this story:
• The WikiLeaks saga (Video report,The Guardian, 6-24-24) Julian Assange returns to Australia a free man after US espionage charge in Saipan court.
Links to many related stories on this website page!
• Julian Assange returns to Australia a free man after US espionage charge – video report (The Guardian, 6-26-24)
The WikiLeaks founder has walked free from a court in the US Pacific island territory of Saipan after pleading guilty to violating US espionage law, in a deal that left him free to return home to Australia and brought an end to an extraordinary 14-year legal saga.
Stella Assange, addressing reporters after her husband's arrival in Canberra, said: 'It took millions of people, people working behind the scenes, people protesting on the streets for days and weeks and months and years ... and we achieved it.' How freedom for Julian Assange is a quiet triumph for Anthony Albanese
‘He needs time’: wife pleads for privacy as Julian Assange reunited with family after landing in Australia.
• What to Know About Julian Assange and His Plea Deal (gift link, Glenn Thrush, NY Times, 6-25-24) The deal ends a period of confinement that lasted about a dozen years, first in the self-exile of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, then in prison.
• A Timeline of Julian Assange’s Legal Saga (gift link, Charlie Savage, NY Times, 6-24-24) A plea deal brought an abrupt end to an extraordinary legal saga that has raised novel issues of national security, press freedoms, politics and diplomacy.
• What Does Julian Assange's Indictment Under the Espionage Act Mean for Journalism? (Ofer Raban, Pacific Standard, 5-28-19) Originally published in The Conversation (5-25-19) as Assange’s new indictment: Espionage and the First Amendment What goes for Assange may also go for any person who obtains or discloses classified information—even journalists.
• The Constitutional Rubicon of an Assange Prosecution (Elizabeth Goitein, Just Security, 5-9-17) 'In general, an employee who signs a non-disclosure agreement in order to gain access to classified government information may be prosecuted for leaking that information. Drawing the line between those who leak classified information and those who publish it thus makes constitutional sense in a way that drawing the line between “good” publishers and “bad” publishers does not....Allowing the FBI to determine who is allowed to publish leaked information based on the bureau’s assessment of their patriotism would cross a constitutional Rubicon. If that giant step were to become a precedent, it could very well spell the end of independent, objective national security reporting.'
• Inchoate Liability and the Espionage Act: The Statutory Framework and the Freedom of the Press (Stephen Vladeck, Harvard Law and Policy Review, 2007, via Digital Commons) Parsing of the statutory text, and why it raises a First Amendment issue in cases like Julian Assange and Wikileaks.
• Julian Assange (Wikipedia)
• Assange's arrest was designed to make sure he didn't press a mysterious panic button he said would bring dire consequences for Ecuador ( Alexandra Ma, Business Insider, 4-12-19) WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange was dramatically arrested and carried out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London on Thursday. British and Ecuadorian authorities engineered the timing and nature of the raid to stop Assange from accessing a panic button he mentioned in the past, Ecuador's foreign minister said. Specifics on the button — or what it might do — are sparse, but the foreign minister said Assange had said it could bring dire consequences for Ecuador. Ecuadorian officials have accused Assange of accessing the government's security files, playing music loudly, and having no regard for personal hygiene during his stay at the embassy.
• Julian Assange: the teen hacker who became insurgent in information war (David Leigh and Luke Harding, The Guardian, 1-30-11) The colourful lives and experiences that shaped underground rebel Julian Assange on the road to WikiLeaks luminary. This story is old (from 2011).