WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison in Britain after pleading guilty to violating US anti-espionage laws. Assange has been imprisoned in Britain since 2019 and was previously trapped in the Ecuadorian embassy since 2012 seeking political asylum.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is currently on his way to the Northern Mariana Islands, which are a member of the United States commonwealth, to record his guilty plea before a judge. After pleading guilty, he will be released to return to Australia. The Northern Mariana Islands were chosen because Assange reportedly did not want to set foot on the United States mainland and its location was closer to Australia.
While running WikiLeaks, Assange is said to have instructed Chelsea Manning, a former US military intelligence analyst, to steal classified documents and then leak them through the site. A total of 750,00 secret, sensitive, diplomatic and military documents were leaked by Manning through WikiLeaks.
Among the leaked secrets is the criminal offense of the American military killing civilians in Iraq using Apache combat helicopters and also in Afghanistan. Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison but was pardoned by President Obama after serving 7 years.