25 June 2024 , 07:16
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison in the UK as part of a plea deal with the US government.
The 52-year-old – who came to the international spotlight in 2010 after publishing a series of leaks from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning – was today freed from the high security Belmarsh jail in London.
For years, the US has argued that the hundreds of thousands of classified military documents – which disclosed information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars – endangered lives.
The activist was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information amid what has been the largest security breach of its kind in the US military history.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange after being released from prison (Picture: AFP)
Footage of Assange published on X in the early hours of this morning shows his departure from Belmarsh where he had been locked away for the past five years.
He is headed towards Stansted Airport where he boarded a private charter plane.
It is understood that the Australian national has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents.
In return, Assange will walk free and return to his country after years in self-exile.
This expected to take place in a court in the Northern Mariana Islands tomorrow morning.
It is a moment his supporters have been waiting for after 14 years of legal battles, campaigns and diplomatic tensions for him and his family.
Wikileaks confirmed the reports in a statement on X: ‘Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of June 24, after having spent 1901 days there.
‘He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.
‘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.’