At 6:14 a.m., Wednesday, Julian Paul Assange’s chartered private jet landed at the Francisco C. Ada/Saipan International Airport.
THE Bombardier Global 6000 private jet carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Paul Assange landed at the Saipan airport on Tuesday at 6:14 a.m.
At 6:23 a.m., WikiLeaks posted on X (formerly Twitter): “NOW: Julian Assange has arrived on US territory at Saipan Island to formalize the plea deal that should never have had to happen.” Assange was “nearly FREE.”
Assange, 52, has been accused by the U.S. government of endangering the lives of American soldiers and informants, while hailed by others for exposing the alleged abuses of the U.S. government.
The decision to fly him to Saipan so he could plead guilty to an espionage charge before he could be set free thrust the island into the global spotlight.
Reuters posted a news video ahead of Assange’s arrival to introduce Saipan to the world and quoted Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, who said, “there is less potential for…chaos with the…press coverage and all that,” referring to the court hearing. They “wanted to get this done efficiently and get it done in a U.S. court,” the governor added.
Several representatives of major foreign media outlets arrived on Saipan Wednesday to cover the story.
High-profile figures
Accompanying Assange to Saipan was another global figure, Kevin Rudd, the prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and from June to September 2013. He is the current ambassador of Australia to the United States.
An hour prior to the arrival of Assange’s chartered jet Wednesday, foreign and local media had already gathered by the main entry to the departure and arrival areas of the international airport.
But the Assange party was shuttled out unnoticed through one of the exit gates of the airport.
Assange rode in an unmarked white Kia Carnival van, which transported him to the U.S. Courthouse in Gualo Rai. The van was followed by a black Hyundai Palisade.
Live coverage
Minutes after Assange’s plane arrived on Saipan, major news networks in the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Australia began their online live coverage. Australian television networks, for their part, carried live broadcasts.
After the white Kia Carnival van pulled into the parking lot of the U.S. Courthouse, Rudd, who was seated next to the driver, was the first to alight. Assange, who was in the backseat, followed. He was wearing a black suit, a white shirt, and a copper-colored tie emblazoned with “Vivienne Westwood + Andreas Kronthaler” and a heart symbol.
Assange was at the court at around 8:34 a.m. ahead of the 9 a.m. scheduled hearing.
Several foreign and local reporters swarmed around him, including those from the Washington Post, which sent a team of six reporters and contributors to Saipan.
The first report, titled “The calm before the hearing on Saipan,” was filed by the Post’s breaking news reporter/editor, Kelly Kasulis Cho.
For its part, a wire service based in Manila, the Philippines, coordinated with its Tokyo and Seoul bureaus to cover the event.
Seoul-based reporters arrived at 2 a.m. Wednesday morning while Manila-based foreign journalists arrived before the 9 a.m. hearing via Guam.
At around 10:48 a.m., the Washington Post reported: “After his team brought up a minor clerical issue about the agreement, Julian Assange rose from his seat and formally pleaded guilty. He stood with his hands folded at his waist and his glasses pushed up to his forehead. [District Court for the NMI] Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted the plea.”
At 12:24 noon, the Post stated, Assange exited the courtroom as a free man.
Based on the flight plan of the chartered private jet, Assange was scheduled to depart Saipan at 12:10 p.m. and head to Canberra, Australia to be reunited with his wife, sons and other members of his family.
Luxury aircraft
According to online news reports, it cost $520,000 to fly Assange from London to Saipan, with a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand.
Assange has to pay back the Australian government, which covered the cost of the flight.
The aircraft was the same plane Taylor Swift chartered when she rushed from a Japan concert to watch her boyfriend Travis Kelce win the Super Bowl in Las Vegas in February.
The private jet can carry 14 passengers and sleep seven. Its cabin lounge chairs can be converted into comfortable beds. The plane can fly nonstop for 13 hours and cover a distance of over 6,000 nautical miles.
The plane departed London’s Stansted Airport on Monday and arrived in Bangkok, Thailand, at 12:30 p.m. It departed Bangkok’s Don Mueang International Airport Tuesday evening at 9:20 p.m. and headed to Saipan.
The last time Saipan attracted global attention was when Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko visited the island in June 2005 to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. It was the first trip by a Japanese monarch to a World War II battlefield abroad.
