Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Dandelion Salad
June 25, 2024
Updated: June 26, 2024
Guardian Australia on Jun 24, 2024
Stella Assange, Julian Assange’s wife, has released a video statement on her husband’s release. The video was recorded on 19 June but released on 24 June after the news of Julian’s release from British prison. ‘It’s exactly 12 years today since Julian went into the embassy of Ecuador, which granted him political asylum,’ Stella says. ‘But this period of ours lives, I’m confident now, has come to an end, and I think by this time next week Julian will be free.’
Julian Assange: Everything You Need To Know As He’s Released
The Project on Jun 25, 2024
Julian Assange is on the brink of being a free man after he reached a deal with US authorities that is expected to see him come home to Australia, so we look back on the 14-year-long saga. Shadow Veterans Affairs Minister Barnaby Joyce supports his release and joins us.
Julian Assange’s Brother Reveals All About Whistleblowers Release
The Project on Jun 25, 2024
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is set to be freed after spending more than a decade as a wanted man after striking a deal with the US government. Gabriel Shipton tells us all about his brother’s plea deal.
Julian Assange’s Brother Gabriel Shipton on End of Legal Saga
Democracy Now! on Jun 25, 2024
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed from Belmarsh Prison in London, where he has been incarcerated for the past five years, after accepting a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors. After a decade-plus of legal challenges, Assange will plead guilty to a single felony count of illegally obtaining and disclosing national security material for publishing classified documents detailing U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan on WikiLeaks. The Australian publisher is expected to be sentenced to time served and allowed to return home, where he reportedly will seek a pardon. Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton describes learning of his release as “an amazing moment.” He speaks to Democracy Now! about Assange’s case and what led up to the latest developments, as well as what he expects will happen next.
Press Freedom Advocates Celebrate Julian Assange’s Release, But Warn of Impact of Plea Deal
Democracy Now! on Jun 25, 2024
We discuss the plea deal and release of Julian Assange with press freedom advocate Trevor Timm. “Thankfully, Julian Assange is finally going free today, but the press freedom implications remain to be seen,” says Timm, who explains the U.S. espionage case against Assange, which was opened under the Trump administration and continued under Biden. Timm expresses disappointment that Biden chose to continue prosecuting Assange rather than demonstrating his stated support of press freedom. If convicted, Assange could have been sentenced to 175 years in U.S. prison, which Timm calls a “ticking time bomb for press freedom rights.” Democracy Now!
Updated: June 25, 2024 9:15 PM
Assange Enters Guilty Plea In US Territorial Court In Saipan, Returns Home To Australia
Kevin Gosztola on Jun 25, 2024
Join journalist Kevin Gosztola, the author of “Guilty of Journalism: The Political Case Against Julian Assange,” as he covers the latest updates on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s return to his home country of Australia. Kevin will go live around the time that a hearing in a United States commonwealth court in the Northern Mariana Islands will likely conclude. After Assange enters a guilty plea as required by his plea deal with the U.S. Justice Department, Assange will soon board a plane. He will have a first chance to begin his life with Stella Assange and his two children, Gabriel and Max, and Assange will likely focus on his health and recovery from his many years of arbitrary detention. There will also be a few clips played from US news media coverage and the State Department press briefing.
Updated: June 26, 2024
“Julian Is Free”: Assange Back Home in Australia After Taking U.S. Plea Deal in “Espionage” Case
Democracy Now! on Jun 26, 2024
Julian Assange has landed in Australia a free man, reuniting with his family Wednesday after pleading guilty to one charge of violating the U.S. Espionage Act as part of a deal with the Justice Department. The WikiLeaks publisher entered his plea on the Pacific island of Saipan, part of the U.S. territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, which lets him avoid further prison time following five years behind bars in the U.K. awaiting possible extradition to the U.S. He had been facing a possible 175 years in U.S. prison if convicted on charges related to his publication of classified documents in 2010 that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This case is an attack on journalism, it’s an attack on the public’s right to know, and it should never have been brought,” the WikiLeaks founder’s wife, Stella Assange, said at a press conference Wednesday. “Julian should never have spent a single day in prison. But today we celebrate, because today Julian is free.” We also play comments from members of Assange’s legal team, Jennifer Robinson and Barry Pollack, who said the use of the World War I-era Espionage Act to go after a publisher put press freedoms at grave risk. Democracy Now!
Julian Assange is getting his ‘first taste of freedom’: Stella Assange
Sky News Australia on Jun 26, 2024
Stella Assange says her husband Julian Assange is starting to get his “first taste of freedom”. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has returned to Australia as a free man after pleading guilty to espionage in a plea deal to secure his release. “He’s starting to get the first taste of freedom,” Ms Assange told Sky News Australia. “We saw the sun come up.”
See also:
The End Of The Biggest Press Freedom Case Of The Century, by Kevin Gosztola
Julian Assange freed after plea deal with the US, by Oscar Grenfell
JULIAN ASSANGE IS FINALLY FREE, by Joe Lauria
From the archives:
Chris Hedges: Day X: Justice for Assange with Stella Assange, Jen Robinson and Kristinn Hrafnsson
John Pilger has died + John Pilger: The Betrayers of Julian Assange
Lee Camp and Stella Assange: When Will Julian Be Freed?
Screenshot by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
Dandelion Salad 
Updated the post with 3 more video reports.