It was suddenly reported that after five years in Belmarsh Prison – and seven years essentially under house arrest in the Ecuadorian embassy – Julian Assange was pleading guilty as part a deal to secure his release.
The reported terms of the deal are that Assange will plead guilty to an infringement of the US Espionage Act, in return for a five year time-served sentence and the freedom to return home to Australia.
Continue reading “Assange Gets a Plea Deal”
Guest Post by Paul Craig Roberts
If the news report from Sky News that reached me early this morning is not a hoax, the US government, increasingly regarded worldwide as a criminal organization, could not convince British courts to extradite Julian Assange. Washington was unable or unwilling to provide the British assurances that Assange would not be abused and denied his rights. https://news.sky.com/story/julian-assange-will-not-be-extradited-to-the-us-after-reaching-plea-deal-13158340
Many of us think Assange has been abused enough by the British government which held him in solitary confinement for 62 months, a massive violation of habeas corpus, as a favor to Washington.
Editor’s Note: WOW!!! Julian Assange is finally free… … …but at a great cost to the ideal of Freedom of Speech.
What really happened here is that Assange was coerced into pleading guilty to a U.S. felony conviction in order to gain his freedom.
WATCH! Julian Assange boards plane and departs UK
after getting released from prison
This was the only way out for his US prosecutors and UK persecutors, as it was Assange’s only ticket out of prison.
Quite unfortunately, however, the universally accepted but not practiced principle of “Free Speech” has been decimated by ‘American Exceptionalism’ in the process.