Rights advocates welcome Assange release but say US case sets worrying precedent

Free speech organizations welcomed Monday’s news of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s release from jail in Britain but said the U.S. case had still set a bad precedent by punishing him for this long.
Assange is due to plead guilty on Wednesday to one charge of violating U.S. espionage law, in a deal that will allow him to return home to Australia, ending a 14-year legal odyssey that could have landed him in jail for many decades.
U.S. authorities in 2019 charged Assange on 18 criminal counts of conspiring with former U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain classified information and unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources.
Several rights groups, leading media organizations and the leaders of countries like Mexico, Brazil and Australia had urged that the charges against Assange be dropped.