The three words that led to freedom for Julian Assange

They were the three words that made it clear Julian Assange could soon be a free man. They were also the only three words US President Joe Biden has said publicly about Assange’s case since he came to power 3½ years ago.

It was April, a gorgeous spring day in Washington, and Biden was strolling alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida through the west colonnade of the White House. The walkway, which connects the West Wing and the executive residence, is a favoured spot for enterprising reporters to lob questions at the president in the 45 seconds it takes to get from one end to the other.

“President Biden, do you have a response to Australia’s request that you end Julian Assange’s prosecution?” shouted New York Post reporter Steven Nelson as the leaders walked by. At first, Biden didn’t hear. Nelson asked his question again. After a pause, Biden replied: “We’re considering it.”

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk along the colonnade of the White House after a State Arrival Ceremony in April.Credit: AP

It was the strongest indication to date that six years of persistent lobbying by Assange’s supporters, and more recently the Australian government, could finally pay dividends.

Nelson’s question seemed to come out of nowhere, but it didn’t. Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, had made several visits to Washington in the preceding months to press the Biden administration to drop espionage charges against the WikiLeaks founder.

Before becoming a tireless advocate for his brother’s release, Shipton worked as a film producer on movies including Mad Max: Fury Road and Lion. Aware of the power of narrative, he made it a priority to cultivate not only US politicians and government officials but members of the White House press corps. These reporters had previously taken little interest in the Assange saga but could play an important role in raising the profile of his case.

Two months after that stroll through the colonnade, the deal was done. Assange was on his way to freedom – via a stopover court appearance in, of all places, the Northern Mariana Islands, a tiny, obscure US commonwealth in the Pacific Ocean few people could locate on a map.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was in his Parliament House office, holding a meeting, when the news came through just after 9am on Tuesday. The government knew a plea deal was in the works, but the story broke in the US media earlier than expected.

Wary of saying too much before Assange was officially free, Albanese’s office released a bland statement. Noting that Assange had upcoming legal proceedings in the US, a government spokesperson said: “Given those proceedings are ongoing, it is not appropriate to provide further comment.”

The co-conveners of the Bring Julian Assange Home parliamentary group announced a press conference, then quickly cancelled it. No one wanted to risk saying anything that could interfere with the court hearing.

Victory laps would need to wait for another day, but they will be taken and deserved. With Assange’s release, Australia has achieved a hard-fought and significant diplomatic triumph.

WikiLeaks revelations stun the world

Beginning in 2010, the WikiLeaks revelations about classified US military operations stunned the world and infuriated the Obama administration. Among the documents leaked to WikiLeaks by US Army soldier Chelsea Manning and published online were the Iraq War Logs, Afghan War Diaries and the Afghan War Logs – thousands of pages exposing the at-times ugly way America had deployed its power. Most famously, WikiLeaks released Collateral Murder, a video showing US troops laughing after shooting dead a group of Iraqi men, including two journalists. All the men were civilians, but some were armed.

In April 2010, a month after the publication of Collateral Murder, Manning was arrested. She was later charged with 22 offences – including aiding the enemy, which is punishable by the death penalty.

Julian Assange after being released from Belmarsh Prison in London.Credit: WikiLeaks via X

The Obama administration considered whether to also lay charges against Assange, who was then entangled in a separate legal matter in Sweden, where he was accused of rape. Claiming that he feared being extradited to the US and charged over his publication of classified material, Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in June 2012.

Worried about the precedent it would set for press freedom, the Obama administration eventually decided not to prosecute Assange. In the final days of his presidency, Barack Obama commuted Manning’s sentence, saying justice had been served. Then Donald Trump moved into the White House.

Trump had previously spoken of his love for WikiLeaks, and for good reason. The site’s publication of embarrassing emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, obtained via a state-sponsored Russian attempt to influence the 2016 presidential election, helped Trump squeak out a shock narrow victory.

But in 2019, Trump’s Justice Department indicted Assange and sought his extradition from Britain, where he remained holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy. The US charged Assange with purportedly encouraging hackers to steal American secrets and send them to WikiLeaks, plus 17 espionage charges for allegedly soliciting and publishing American national security secrets.

When Biden came to power in January 2021, the Justice Department pressed on with the charges.

The Morrison government took a hands-off approach to Assange’s case, saying it was a matter for the US legal system. That changed when Labor won the May 2022 election. Albanese said in opposition that the Assange matter had dragged on long enough, and maintained this stance as prime minister, saying the saga “needs to be brought to a close”.

Hands-off approach changes

Albanese at first said he would not engage in megaphone diplomacy, but he became more vocal over time as Assange remained locked up at Belmarsh prison in London. He confirmed he had raised the matter in his meetings with Biden and appointed Kevin Rudd – who had strongly backed Assange’s bid for freedom – as Australia’s ambassador to Washington.

Behind the scenes, however, government sources continued to stress that securing Assange’s freedom would not be easy. Biden came to office vowing to protect the independence of the justice system and did not want to be seen to be telling prosecutors what to do – especially as they were considering charging Trump with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. During a visit to Australia last July, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Australians to understand the American view that Assange had put lives at risk through his disclosures.

Then there was Assange himself, who was resolutely opposed to stepping on US soil to face trial.

By early last year, Assange’s best hope of walking free had become clear: a David Hicks-style plea deal with the Justice Department.

“[A] solution needs to be found that brings this matter to a conclusion, and Mr Assange needs to be a part of that,” Albanese said last May, indicating the Biden administration would not simply drop the charges outright.

Illustration: Matt Golding

US ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy buoyed the hopes of Assange’s supporters by meeting with his parliamentary advocates and then by telling this masthead that “there absolutely could be a resolution” to the matter.

Meanwhile, the “Free Assange” campaign continued to work every angle it could think of to put pressure on the US side to cut a deal. A cross-party delegation spanning the far left to the far right of the Australian parliament travelled to Washington last September to highlight the widespread support for his release. In February, the House of Representatives passed a motion calling for Assange to be returned to Australia.

Asked why the saga has drawn to a close now, Gabriel Shipton says he believes the UK general election and impending US presidential election played a role. He praises Albanese for his advocacy efforts, saying: “This could not have happened without the Australian government. They played a huge role in securing this but were part of a much wider campaign.”

Government MPs not authorised to speak publicly say the full story of the prime minister’s persistent efforts to free Assange has yet to be told.

In the end, both sides achieved what they needed from a deal. The US received a guilty plea to one felony count, an admission of wrongdoing.

Assange is en route to Australia without having to set foot on the US mainland or serve any more time in jail.

After many twists and turns, this high-stakes hide-and-seek game is coming to a dramatic and abrupt conclusion. Assange, once again, will be a free man.

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