A plane carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange made a stop in Bangkok on Tuesday to refuel en route to a court hearing in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory in the Pacific. This development follows a lengthy and high-profile extradition saga involving Assange and the United States.
Assange, 52, has reached a plea deal with U.S. authorities and is expected to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defense information, according to court documents filed in the Northern Mariana Islands. This agreement could pave the way for his eventual return to his native Australia.
The charter flight transporting Assange departed from London and landed at Bangkok’s Don Mueang airport at approximately 12:30 PM local time (0530 GMT), as observed by AFP journalists. A senior Thai official, speaking anonymously, confirmed that Assange was listed among the passengers and stated, “The plane is expected to refuel and resupply with water before departing at 9:00 PM for Saipan island.”
Assange is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning, local time, where he is anticipated to receive a sentence of 62 months in prison. He will receive credit for the over five years he has already spent in detention in Britain.
The charges against Assange stem from his role in publishing approximately 700,000 confidential U.S. military and diplomatic documents beginning in 2010. He has been detained in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019, following a seven-year asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he sought refuge to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations that were subsequently dropped.
WikiLeaks confirmed that Assange had been released on bail, transferred from Belmarsh to Stansted Airport near London, and placed on the plane.
This plea deal brings an end to a protracted legal battle over U.S. efforts to extradite Assange under the 1917 Espionage Act. The resolution comes amid increasing pressure on U.S. President Joe Biden to cease pursuing the case against Assange, which has drawn considerable international attention and controversy.
