The UN independent expert on torture, Ms Alice Edwards, has said the release of Julian Assange is a very good outcome to the long-running case after reports that the WikiLeaks founder had struck a plea deal with the United States.
Assange had been sought by U.S. lawmakers after massive leaks of classified material via the WikiLeaks platform.
Edwards, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment, said in a statement on Wednesday that people should not and never be extradited where they may face torture or other cruel treatment.
“Those crimes that were exposed by Assange need to be taken seriously and properly investigated and prosecuted in the United States,” she said.
According to her, impunity for war crimes and other violations of the laws of war only embolden actors to take matters into their own hands.
Until today, Assange had been fighting extradition from prison in the United Kingdom to the U.S. following the 2010 publication of secret military documents and diplomatic communications.
His reported deal involves a guilty plea to one count of violating the U.S. Espionage Act, without serving additional prison time.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday said his country was providing assistance to Julian Assange following the news that the Wikileaks founder agreed to plead guilty.
He agreed to plead guilty in a deal with the U.S. and that he has left the UK.
“The government is certainly aware that Australian citizen Assange has legal proceedings scheduled in the United States,’’ Albanese told Australia’s parliament during Question Time, calling the news a welcomed development.”
According to court documents filed earlier on Monday, Assange was set to plead guilty to one charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defence documents.
This was in return for being spared further imprisonment in the U.S., in a deal with the Justice Department.
Assange is expected to attend a hearing on the Pacific island of Saipan on Wednesday before returning to Australia, the court documents stated.
Saipan, part of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan, is under U.S. administration.
The deal is still to be approved by a U.S. federal judge.
Albanese said that he would not provide “further detailed comment as the proceedings were ongoing, but did confirmed that UK High Commissioner Steven Smith travelled with Mr Assange.
He said they travelled when he left the United Kingdom, while Australia’s ambassador to the U.S., Kevin Rudd was also providing assistance.
“The case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia,’’ Albanese said.
“I will have more to say when these legal proceedings have concluded, which I hope will be very soon, and I will report as appropriate at that time,’’ the prime minister said.
Wikileaks said Assange left the high-security Belmarsh prison in London on bail on Monday morning and departed the UK from Stansted Airport at 5 p.m. local time (1600 GMT).
Assange was accused of having stolen and published secret material from U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, putting the lives of U.S. informants in danger.
His supporters saw the Wikileaks founder as a journalist who brought war crimes to light.
British police arrested Assange in 2019 at the Ecuadorian embassy, where he had taken refuge for seven years, for failing to surrender to an earlier warrant linked to Swedish charges that were eventually dropped.
The police swooped in after Quito revoked Assange’s asylum status.