Released through plea deal · No prison term remaining
Enemy profile / 010
Julian Assange
The WikiLeaks publisher whose prosecution turned the public’s right to know into a global test of state power.
“I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism.”— Julian Assange · October 2024
Case
United States v. Assange
Status
Free in Australia · Felony plea
Issue
Publishing state secrets
The case
When does publishing become espionage?
For more than a decade, Assange’s fate became inseparable from a larger question: can the United States prosecute a publisher for obtaining and releasing truthful classified material? Prosecutors emphasized his effort to help Chelsea Manning crack a password and the publication of unredacted names. Press-freedom advocates warned that the indictment also described activities journalists routinely perform—asking for information, protecting sources, and publishing government secrets.
The EotS position
States wage war in secrecy. Peace requires a public record.
We honor Assange because he gave citizens evidence with which to judge wars conducted in their name. Publishing the concealed human cost of state violence is not incidental to liberty: it is how individuals can withdraw consent, demand accountability, and resist being made silent participants in war.
The terms of his freedom
What Assange accepted
One felony guilty plea under the Espionage Act; a 62-month sentence credited entirely as time served; waiver of almost all appeal and post-conviction challenges; waiver of FOIA and Privacy Act access to DOJ records about his case; release of claims arising from the investigation and prosecution; and return or destruction of unpublished U.S. material within his or WikiLeaks’ control.
What the United States accepted
Dismissal of the remaining Eastern District of Virginia indictment, withdrawal of the British extradition request, no additional charges based on pre-agreement conduct absent breach, no further detention, and prompt departure for Australia.
What was not imposed
The public agreement states no probation, supervised release, continuing travel restriction, or prohibition on public speech. Assange later addressed the Council of Europe. Describing the bargain as a “gag order” may capture its chilling effect, but it is not a stated speech ban in the signed agreement.
Documented record
WikiLeaks published vast stores of military and diplomatic records. In 2024 Assange admitted conspiring to obtain and disclose national-defense information and was sentenced to the time already served in Britain.
Government position
The United States argued that Assange was not simply a passive recipient: he encouraged further acquisition of classified material, attempted to assist password cracking, and endangered named sources through publication.
Assange and advocates
His defense maintained that the prosecution criminalized core newsgathering and publishing conduct, threatened reporters far beyond WikiLeaks, and punished exposure of government wrongdoing.
Editorial note: Enemies of the State considers Assange a hero for exposing the realities of war and defending the public’s right to know. “Free” means he is no longer incarcerated—not that he was exonerated. He accepted a felony conviction and extensive legal waivers to secure release; those terms and our anti-war judgment are both stated plainly.
Publication + prosecution
One case. Fifteen years of consequence.
01
WikiLeaks is founded
Assange establishes a publishing platform designed to receive and publish leaked documents while protecting confidential sources.
02
War logs and diplomatic cables
WikiLeaks publishes the Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, U.S. diplomatic cables, and the video known as Collateral Murder, largely in collaboration with established news organizations.
03
Asylum inside Ecuador’s London embassy
After losing a British extradition appeal connected to a Swedish investigation, Assange enters the Ecuadorian embassy and receives asylum, saying he fears onward extradition to the United States.
04
Arrested and taken to Belmarsh
Ecuador withdraws asylum and British police arrest Assange. He is sentenced for breaching bail and then held in maximum-security Belmarsh while the United States seeks extradition.
05
Espionage Act indictment expands
U.S. prosecutors add seventeen Espionage Act counts to a computer-intrusion charge, making the publication of classified national-defense information central to the case.
06
Extradition initially refused
A British judge rejects extradition because of Assange’s mental health and the risk posed by U.S. prison conditions, while rejecting most of the defense’s broader press-freedom arguments.
07
Appeals and a family-led campaign
The United States wins an appeal after giving prison assurances. Assange’s family, lawyers, journalists, and supporters sustain an international campaign as further British appeals continue.
08
Freedom through a negotiated guilty plea
Assange pleads guilty in Saipan to one felony count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national-defense information. In exchange, prosecutors seek no additional prison time, dismiss the remaining U.S. indictment, withdraw extradition, and permit his return to Australia.
09
Assange speaks publicly
In testimony to the Council of Europe, Assange says he chose freedom after years of confinement and describes the plea as pleading guilty to the ordinary work of seeking, obtaining, and publishing information.
10
Physically free; legally convicted
Assange has no remaining custodial sentence or supervision stated in the plea agreement. But the felony conviction stands, most avenues to challenge it were waived, and the press-freedom precedent remains unresolved.
The public record supports more than one truth: Assange accepted a felony conviction, and the prosecution alarmed major press-freedom organizations because of the conduct it sought to criminalize.
The plea ended Assange’s confinement. It did not establish a clear legal boundary protecting ordinary journalistic work from future Espionage Act prosecutions.
Study what WikiLeaks published, support source protection, and insist that exposing state conduct is not treated as an offense merely because the truth is inconvenient.
Current postureFree in Australia · Felony conviction
This draft draws on the Justice Department’s account and signed plea agreement, U.S. and British court records, Assange’s October 2024 public testimony, press-freedom analysis, and Gabriel Shipton’s documentary and post-release interviews. No speech gag appears in the public plea agreement.
