WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange regains freedom after US plea deal

Julian Assange, WikiLeaks founder, has been freed from prison in the UK after he agreed to plead guilty to breaching the espionage law in the US.

Assange, who was accused of releasing classified national defence documents that embarrassed the US government, was arrested by the British police in 2019 at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

He had been holed up at the embassy for years in a bid to evade arrest.

WikiLeaks announced the 52-year-old’s release in a statement on Tuesday.

The newspaper said its founder left Belmarsh maximum security prison on Monday morning after he was granted bail by the high court in London.

“This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations,” the statement reads.

“This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised. We will provide more information as soon as possible.”

US justice department prosecutors seek a 62-month sentence — the equivalent of the time Assange served in the UK as he battled extradition — under the terms of the agreement.

This means the plea deal would include time already served, allowing Assange to immediately return to Australia. However, a federal judge still has to approve this.

The deal also caps a long-running legal saga between the journalist and the US government.

Assange would still have to make a court appearance in a remote US territory in the Pacific.