Julian Assange live news: WikiLeaks founder arrives at Saipan court accompanied by former Australian prime minister

Here is a livestream from the US district court in Saipan, which you can follow along with:

As we reported earlier, Julian Assange arrived at court in Saipan alongside Australia’s ambassador to the US and former prime minister, Kevin Rudd.

Rudd served as the Australian prime minister from 2007 to 2010 as leader of the Labor party. In 2010 he resigned as leader following a leadership challenge from his then-deputy, Julia Gillard.

He eventually defeated Gillard in a leadership spill in 2013, becoming prime minister for the second time, but this was short-lived – Labor lost the federal election just two months later.

Rudd first entered the Australian parliament in 1988 as the federal member for Griffith, in the inner southern suburbs of Brisbane, Queensland. He was appointed shadow minister for foreign affairs in 2001 and first became Labor leader in late 2006.

Rudd is known for delivering the first national apology to Australia’s Indigenous people for the Stolen Generations.

Never one to shy away from the cameras, after retiring from politics he was appointed as Australia’s ambassador to the United States in late 2022. The current Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said at the time his appointment would be well served “at a time when our region is being reshaped by strategic competition” between the US and China.

Rudd spent time as the global president and chief executive of the international relations institute the Asia Society, and can speak Mandarin.

There are about 40 to 50 media and supporters of Julian Assange here at the district courthouse in Saipan. Many of the journalists have flown in from overseas to cover what is one of the longest running sagas in media.

The courthouse sits at the foot of lush hillside on Saipan’s coast, in the village of Gualo Rai. In front is the sparkling Pacific, and a beach with stray kittens running among the trees.

The atmosphere in the court car park is buzzing, Saipan hasn’t had a story like this in as long as local journalists can remember and there is bemusement at the faster pace, sense of stress, and pushiness of the fly-in reporters compared with the usual laid back style.

Assange landed around 6am this morning, on a half-million dollar charter flight from London. He was accompanied by the Australian ambassadors to the UK and US, and a convoy of cars took him straight to the nearby Crowne Plaza hotel.

Just a few hours later he arrived at court, wearing a dark suit and a neutral expression. He took no questions from the swarming media, including one shouted query if he preferred the weather in Saipan to London.

Inside the courthouse, guards and court officers greeted the visitors with patience and warnings against recording anything while inside.

In the wood panelled courtroom, two flags sit beside the judge’s chair – one, the Stars and Stripes, the other for this Pacific territory.

Assange had agreed to appear before a US court but, ever suspicious, refused to go to the continental US. And so he, Stephen Smith, Kevin Rudd, and a handful of international media found themselves on this island chain in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Less than half an hour from now Assange is expected to plead guilty to one count of breaking the espionage act in return for his freedom.

Adam Bandt would welcome Julian Assange speaking at parliament, if he is freed

Leader of the Australian Greens, Adam Bandt, weighed in on the Assange case on ABC News Breakfast just earlier.

He said the issue was “unfolding in real time” so he could not comment on the court proceedings, but would “very strongly welcome” Julian Assange coming back to Australia:

The Greens have said from the beginning that journalism is not a crime and it’s caused many people around this country incredible distress to watch how Julian Assange has been treated.

I do think we have reached the point where, whatever you think about this – whether you have agreed with the Greens from the beginning that he should never have been charged, or even if you don’t – that it needs to come to an end and he needs to be brought home.

Bandt said that Assange has “had to endure something that many of us would find unimaginable”, and said “the amount of time he has already spent in detention has come at a massive toll on his health”.

Would Bandt support Assange coming to Canberra to speak at the Australian parliament, if he is freed?

If Julian Assange comes back to Australia and is free, then I certainly would like to hear him speak. I think many others would as well. He has endured a lot, he has done a lot, and I think we all have a lot to learn – including about how we can change our laws to ensure it doesn’t happen to someone else in the future and we don’t see a repeat of this.

Here is our full story on Julian Assange arriving in Saipan, for all the details:

Here is a video of the moment Julian Assange arrived at court in Saipan alongside Australia’s ambassador to the US and former prime minister, Kevin Rudd:

On former US vice-president Mike Pence’s views that Julian Assange should be “prosecuted to the full extent of the law”, Australian deputy prime minister Richard Marles said:

I don’t think it serves to go over Mr Assange’s actions many, many years ago, other than to observe that since then, Mr Assange has been incarcerated for many, many years.

And that’s really the point that we are making here.

Whatever has occurred in the past, Mr Assange has served a considerable amount of time in prison and of course, he was confined for a considerable period of time prior to that.

Does Richard Marles believe it was political pressure that brought about this day?

Australia’s deputy prime minister told ABC RN Breakfast just earlier:

Again, I don’t think it helps to speculate on that. All I can say is that we’ve been advocating on Mr Assanges’ behalf as we would do in relation to any Australian who is incarcerated overseas who needs the advocacy of the Australian Government.

That’s what governments do around the world.

And Mr Assange has circumstances irrespective of one’s view of what he did previously, he had been incarcerated for a prolonged period of time, there was no fixed resolution to that incarceration that was fundamentally unfair.

That’s what we sought to resolve and, and that’s been the heart of our advocacy.

And in that context, we’re very pleased that we’re getting to this day.

Australian deputy prime minister ‘pleased we are seeing movement’ on Julian Assange case

Australia’s defence minister and deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, spoke with ABC RN Breakfast earlier about the Julian Assange case and said:

We’ve been facilitating Mr Assange’s movements. And so as Mr Assange appears in US court this morning in Saipan, and it is my understanding that our ambassador the United States, Kevin Rudd, is there, as is the High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, who’s has been facilitating Mr Assange’s travel.

Obviously, we are limited in what we can say. Now, this is this is before the United States courts literally as we are speaking, and we need to let that process take its course, but we’re obviously very pleased that we are seeing movement and resolution to Mr Assange’s circumstances because he was incarcerated for a protracted period of time.

And there needed to be resolution and we’ve been very much advocating on his behalf, since we’ve come to government with both the governments of the United States and the United Kingdom and we’re pleased we’ve got to this day.

An update from the ground in Saipan

Julian Assange has arrived at court in Saipan, accompanied by the ambassador to the UK, Stephen Smith, and Kevin Rudd, the former Australian prime minister and now ambassador to the US.

There’s a hoard of media outside the court here, both local and foreign.

Assange did not stop to speak to any despite the questions being shouted at him, including whether he preferred the weather in Saipan to London.

- with Kimberly Esmores

As we previously mentioned, Julian Assange will appear in a United States district court in Saipan at 9am local time today.

Saipan is the largest island and capital of the Mariana islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific.

Like territories such as Guam or Puerto Rico, the Northern Mariana Islands are part of the US without the full status of a state.

The roughly 51,000 residents are US citizens but cannot vote in presidential elections. Crucially, some, like Saipan, also host US district courts.

The location of the court is because Assange is opposed to travelling to the continental US, and its proximity to his native Australia – roughly 3,000km.

- with Reuters

As Daniel Hurst reported last night, Australia’s most senior diplomat in the UK also flew with Julian Assange to Saipan.

The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, confirmed the high-level consular support for Assange while telling parliament yesterday: “We want him brought home to Australia.”

The high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, had travelled with Assange out of the country, Albanese said, adding that Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, was “also providing important assistance”.

And here is some footage shared by WikiLeaks:

Here are some photos from the moment Julian Assange arrived at a US district court in Saipan, alongside former prime minister and current Australian ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.

The ABC has just broadcast live footage from Saipan, showing Julian Assange arriving at court alongside Australia’s ambassador to the US and former prime minister, Kevin Rudd.

As we resume our live coverage of Julian Assange, here is the state of play:

Julian Assange has landed on the island of Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands. The WikiLeaks founder was released from Belmarsh prison in London on Monday.

• Assange, 52, is scheduled to be sentenced in a US district court in Saipan at 9am local time on Wednesday (11pm GMT on Tuesday). Guardian correspondent Helen Davidson is on the ground in Saipan and will bring all the latest news from the Assange court hearing as it happens.

• He is expected to accept a charge under the US Espionage Act in front of a US federal judge. Under the deal, which must be approved by a judge, Assange is likely to be credited for the five years he has already served and face no new jail time.

• Supporters have celebrated his release. The dedicated band of supporters have spent years on the case, some of them over more than a decade.

• Experts have warned that the plea deal struck between the WikiLeaks founder and the US authorities could set a dangerous precedent. Many press freedom advocates have argued that criminally charging Assange represents a threat to free speech.

• There was a mixed reaction to the news of the plea deal across the US political spectrum. James Clapper, director of US national intelligence in 2010 when Assange and his WikiLeaks organisation published secret US intelligence documents with a consortium of newspaper, said Assange had “paid his dues”. Former US vice-president Mike Pence, however, described Assange’s plea deal as “a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces and their families”.

• WikiLeaks said Assange had left Belmarsh prison on Monday morning, after 1,901 days of captivity there. He had spent the time, the organisation said, “in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day”.

• Assange was set to be reunited with his wife, Stella, and their two children. Stella Assange, a human rights lawyer, spoke of her elation that he has been released and will soon be a “free man”. She said she had not yet informed their two boys, aged five and seven, of the plans for fear of the information leaking.