On average, 54 flights depart from London Stansted Airport each day.¹ Yet yesterday the eyes of the world were on just one, carrying one of the most controversial figures of the century: Julian Assange.

He was travelling to a small US territory in the Pacific, the Northern Mariana IslandsA US commonwealth of 14 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Just under 50,000 people live there. . There, under a plea deal agreed with the US government, he will plead guilty to one espionageSpying. charge.

In exchange, he will receive a prison sentence of five years, which he will be deemed to have completed in Britain. As such, he will be free to return to his native Australia.

The deal, if it is completed, will end a 14-year battle over the rights of the media. 

Assange founded WikiLeaksA whistleblowing platform founded by Julian Assange. It has published news leaks and classified documents obtained by anonymous individuals. , an international organisation devoted to publishing information that it deems in the public interest, in 2006.²

Over the years it revealed thousands of secret documents. But it became the focus of American ire in 2010, when it published a series of leaked files passed to it by US soldier Chelsea Manning.

The most infamous of these showed a US helicopter gunning down unarmed civilians, including two ReutersA major worldwide news agency. journalists, in Iraq. The US Army had previously claimed that the victims were insurgents and that the reporters were killed accidentally.³

The US government opened a criminal investigation over the leaks, which resulted in the conviction of Manning in 2013.

Assange was living in London, making him harder to target. However, in November 2010, the Swedish police issued an international arrest warrant for Assange on charges of sexual assault.

The UK government was set to extradite Assange to Sweden to face the charges. But Assange fought it, fearing the Scandinavian country would then extraditeWhen one country officially send a suspect to another country to face trial for a crime. him to the US.

In 2012, about to lose his case, he claimed asylum in the EcuadorianEcuador is a South American country with a population of nearly 18 million. embassy in London, where he would remain for almost seven years.

Then in 2019, he was expelled by Ecuador and taken into custody. He spent the following five years fighting extradition.

Throughout this time, Assange and his supporters argued that he and WikiLeaks are journalists, exposing the truth to the public as journalists must. They claim the US charges against him were an assault on the freedom of the press.

Now Assange is free, they say, the press has won a victory for its freedom as well.

Assange's opponents are less pleased. They say WikiLeaks broke the law and put the lives of diplomatic and military personnel at risk.

Some also claim WikiLeaks put journalists and human rights campaigners in danger.

For example, in 2012, WikiLeaks published 250,000 US diplomatic cablesA confidential message exchanged between people on diplomatic missions, such as those in embassies, and staff in the country they are representing. . They exposed spying by US diplomats and negative comments about US allies.⁴

But because WikiLeaks did not curate the content, the documents also exposed the identities of these activists, many of whom had secret channels to US embassies. Some had to be rescued from their countries.⁵

Other Assange supporters think this case is actually a defeat for press freedom. They say that by forcing him to plead guilty to one charge, the US has established that journalists can be prosecuted for doing their jobs. They fear that will have a chilling effect on others.

Is this a victory for freedom of the press?

Yes: Assange won the long fight for his freedom against the world's greatest power. Now others can have confidence that they too can hold the powerful to account and win.

No: Responsible journalists find the balance between exposing the truth and observing security. WikiLeaks is not a media outlet but an activist organisation that puts people in danger. 

Or... Assange spent seven years effectively imprisoned in the Ecuadorian embassy and a further five in Belmarsh. Now he has been found guilty of spying. The US succeeded in persecuting him, and this will silence others.

Northern Mariana Islands - A US commonwealth of 14 islands in the Pacific Ocean. Just under 50,000 people live there.

Espionage - Spying.

WikiLeaks - A whistleblowing platform founded by Julian Assange. It has published news leaks and classified documents obtained by anonymous individuals.

Reuters - A major worldwide news agency.

Extradite - When one country officially send a suspect to another country to face trial for a crime.

Ecuadorian - Ecuador is a South American country with a population of nearly 18 million.

Diplomatic cables - A confidential message exchanged between people on diplomatic missions, such as those in embassies, and staff in the country they are representing.