WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange released from prison after reaching plea deal with the US
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been released from prison in the United Kingdom and is returning to Australia after agreeing to a plea deal with the US. He will plead guilty to a single charge of violating the US Espionage Act.
Assange, 52, will admit to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US national defense information, as per a filing in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands.
Reuters reports that Assange was released from the UK’s high-security Belmarsh prison on Monday, June 24, and taken to the airport, where he departed the country.
He is scheduled to appear in court in Saipan, a US Pacific territory, at 9 am on Wednesday (11 pm GMT on Tuesday), where he will be sentenced to 62 months, a term already served.
A video posted on X by WikiLeaks shows Assange in a blue shirt and jeans signing a document before boarding a private jet.
Following the hearing in Saipan, Assange will return to Australia, according to a WikiLeaks statement.
“Julian Assange is free,” WikiLeaks announced on X. “He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of June 24, after spending 1,901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and released at Stansted airport in the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and left the UK.”
Reports indicate that the plane carrying Assange landed in Bangkok on Tuesday to refuel before continuing to the US territory.
Julian Assange’s wife, Stella, expressed her joy, saying she was “elated” and found it “incredible” that her husband was set to be released.
“I’m just elated,” she said on Tuesday from Australia. “He will be a free man once the judge signs off, which will happen sometime tomorrow.”
“WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories on government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable,” WikiLeaks said in its statement about the plea deal. “As editor-in-chief, Julian paid dearly for these principles and the public’s right to know. As he returns to Australia, we thank everyone who stood by us, fought for us, and remained committed to his freedom.”
Assange gained notoriety when he launched WikiLeaks in 2006, providing a platform for whistleblowers to anonymously submit classified documents and videos.
The release of footage showing a US Apache helicopter attack in Baghdad, which killed a dozen people including two journalists, brought significant attention to WikiLeaks. This was followed by the 2010 publication of hundreds of thousands of classified US documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and a large number of diplomatic cables.
The US administration under former president Donald Trump decided to charge Assange in 2019 with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act.
