Key events
Helen Davidson
Judge says amendment made, no details yet
Anderson and McKenzie are counsel for US.
The judge says the two sides met together in chambers earlier, and there has been an amendment made. No details but we’ll address it soon, she says.
Helen Davidson
Judge Ramona V Manglona has now entered the room.
Julian Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, has shared a video of him arriving at the Saipan court to X earlier this morning and said:
I watch this and think how overloaded his senses must be, walking through the press scrum after years of sensory depravation and the four walls of his high security Belmarsh prison cell.
Julian has arrived at the federal court house in Saipan.
I watch this and think how overloaded his senses must be, walking through the press scrum after years of sensory depravation and the four walls of his high security Belmarsh prison cell.
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 25, 2024
Helen Davidson
All eyes are on Julian Assange, who is sitting quietly at the defence’s table, and appears to be reading court documents alongside his lawyer.
Kevin Rudd and Stephen Smith are sitting with his legal team behind him, and they’re talking amongst themselves.
Gabriel Shipton, Assange’s brother, has just told Sky News Australia that the family was “overwhelmed”.
We are very much looking forward to having him home.
Helen Davidson
Judge Ramona V Manglona has not yet arrived.
Julian Assange enters courtroom
Helen Davidson
Julian Assange has arrived in court.
Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, and ambassador to the UK, Stephen Smith, are sitting behind him as supporters.
Assange hearing expected to begin any minute in full courtroom
Helen Davidson
The last two seats in the main courtroom have been filled, and it’s expected now that anyone else wanting to watch proceedings will be put into an overflow room.
The hearing, in front of chief judge Ramona V Manglona, is expected to start any minute. The Guardian saw Assange entering a side room about 20 minutes ago.
The last two seats in the main courtroom have been taken as the hearing is about to kick off, Thomas Mangloña II reports.
Last two seats in main courtroom are taken.
— Thomas Mangloña II (@thomasreporting) June 25, 2024
US attorneys enter courtroom for Assange hearing
Local journalist covering the Mariana Islands Thomas Mangloña II has tweeted the following updates from the courtroom:
Roughly 40 people in the main courtroom right now with less than half an hour before the hearing is scheduled to begin. Some already in overflow room where there is a live feed.
U.S. Probation Officer Juanette F. David-Atalig entered courtroom.
US Attorneys have entered the courtroom.
Roughly 40 people in the main courtroom right now with less than half an hour before the hearing is scheduled to begin. Some already in overflow room where there is a live feed.
— Thomas Mangloña II (@thomasreporting) June 25, 2024
Here is a livestream from outside the US district court in Saipan, which you can follow along with:
Who is Kevin Rudd?
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.
Assange court hearing to begin in less than half an hour
Helen Davidson
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: