Julian Assange and his family traveled to Rome over the weekend and were among hundreds of thousands of people at the Vatican attending the funeral of Pope Francis, who was a supporter of the WikiLeaks founder.
“Now Julian is free, we have all come to Rome to express our family’s gratitude for the Pope’s support during Julian’s persecution,” Assange’s wife, Stella, said in a statement released by WikiLeaks on X that included a photo of the couple with their two young children.
“Our children and I had the honor of meeting Pope Francis in June 2023 to discuss how to free Julian from Belmarsh prison. Francis wrote to Julian in prison and even proposed to grant him asylum at the Vatican,” Stella added.
On the day Pope Francis died at 88, WikiLeaks paid tribute to the late Pontiff, calling him a “true ally in the fight for Julian Assange’s freedom.”
When Stella visited Pope Francis at the Vatican in 2023, Julian was still being held in London’s Belmarsh Prison and was fighting extradition to the US for exposing US war crimes by publishing documents he obtained from former US Army Private Chelsea Manning, a standard journalistic practice.
At the time of the visit, Stella said Francis had “provided great solace and comfort, and we are extremely appreciative for his reaching out to our family in this way. He understands that Julian is suffering and is concerned.”
The Assange family’s appearance at the Vatican was the second known time Julian traveled outside of Australia since he returned home after reaching a plea deal with the US government last year.
A few months after his release, Julian addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). “I want to be totally clear. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today after years of incarceration because I pled guilty to journalism,” he said in the address.
“I pled guilty to seeking information from a source. I pled guilty to obtaining information from a source. And I pled guilty to informing the public what that information was. I did not plead guilty to anything else,” the WikiLeaks founder added.
It is so good to see Julian free to travel.
I look forward to the day Ed Snowden is free too.
Snowden is a Russian citizen with a Russian passport. He free to visit all 20 countries or so that have ties to Russia. He can travel to Iran for example or China. But he can't not come back to the USA because the USA does not like people who travel to China to sell secrets and then on to Russia to do the same.
Is there any bullshit that you are fed that you DON'T swallow hook, line and sinker? Assange, Snowden, Manning and anyone else that exposes our government for their unlawfulness should have parades held for them.
And people who know better don’t like it when you lie about Snowden.
Among the most prominent figures at the Pope's funeral were Prince William, Donald Trump, Joe Biden, Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron.
Trump was in a front-row seat near Francis' coffin, alongside his wife Melania Trump, across the aisle from Macron and his wife Brigitte.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis was spinning in his coffin.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/17f29070d95bae42deed9bce12068acc837820c25e44da1b7d620b5380e9a46a.jpg
!!!…!
He looks good. And he is the most Jesus-like amongst all, including the dead pope. He risked his life and freedom to tell the truth.
Since there is no international laws that US seldom follows… the WikiLeaks could publish the nine eleven papers and not plea guilty…!
I did not plead guilty to anything else. Seems he forgot that he pleaded guilty to one felony count of violating the Espionage Act. And in 1996 in Australia he pleaded guilty to 24 computer hacking charges. Like all convicted criminals, he simply can not accept that he broke the law even went he admitted he did so by pleading guilty.
It was literally impossible for him to violate the Espionage Act. He is neither a US citizen, nor was he in any area under US jurisdiction when he allegedly did the things he was accused of doing. Yes, he pleaded guilty, to get his evil and unlawful imprisonment over with by giving the US regime a tiny fig leaf of “victory.”
He should have punched both Biden and Trump right in the throat.