US authorities have agreed to drop Britain’s request for Julian Assange extradition after reaching a deal with the WikiLeaks founder.
According to court documents, Assange will receive a 62-month sentence in exchange for his guilty plea to one count of conspiracy to obtain and release defense information, which he has already served in a British prison.
If the judge accepts his confession, the 52-year-old can return to his native Australia.
US prosecutors had accused Assange of endangering the life of former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning for helping to steal diplomatic cables and military files that were leaked by WikiLeaks in 2010.
He is embroiled in a legal battle over extradition in the UK and has been held in Belmarsh prison since May 2019 after entering the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012.
“Julian is free!”
In a post on X, WikiLeaks said Assange left Belmarsh on Monday morning after being granted bail by the High Court. He arrived at Stansted Airport in the afternoon and boarded a plane to leave the UK.
“After more than five years in isolation, 23 hours a day, in a 2×3 metre cell, he will soon be reunited with his wife, Stella Assange, and their children, who have only ever known their father inside prison,” the company said.
Assange also posted on social media, sharing a montage video of her husband in a car and boarding a plane.
She wrote:
“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you all for your concerted efforts over the years to make this possible. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”
Assange’s confession and sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday morning local time in Saipan, the largest island in the Mariana Islands. The court is near Australia.
Murray said, “The whole family is really thrilled that this horrific story is finally over.”
Murray said the whole ordeal had been “very stressful” for Assange and that his detention had taken a huge toll on both his physical and mental health.
He added: “He will recover and we will get Julian back in full.”
A fight for more than a decade
Assange has been fighting extradition to the US for more than a decade.
In her January 2021 ruling, then-District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said he should not be transferred to the US because of a truly “tragic” suicide risk, but ruled against him on all other counts.
Later that year, US authorities won a High Court case overturning the ban, paving the way for Assange’s extradition.
In June 2022, the UK government approved Assange’s extradition to the US after then-Home Secretary Priti Patel signed an extradition order.
In February this year, he made a final attempt to avoid extradition to the US under UK law.
In March, Dame Victoria Sharp and Judge Johnson dismissed most of Assange’s legal arguments but said he could appeal without assurances from the US on three grounds.
These assurances were that Assange is protected by and can rely on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which protects freedom of expression in the US, and that he will not be “detrimental in the process” because of his nationality. The death penalty will not be imposed.
Three months later, in May, two Supreme Court justices ruled that he could appeal his extradition, that he would not face the death penalty, and that he could invoke the First Amendment if he were tried on espionage charges.