Julian Assange released from jail after plea deal

Jailed for practicing journalism, and about to walk free after more than five grueling years, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has left London's Belmarsh maximum security prison for the US Mariana Islands in the Pacific, where he's expected to plead guilty under the US Espionage Act.

That means no extradition to mainland USA.

He is then likely to return to his native Australia as a free man, perhaps the final act in a years-long legal drama.

• Wikileaks founder Julian Assange freed from UK jail
  

  Wikileaks founder Juliian Assange freed from UK jail

  After a horrendous ordeal imposed on him by the US and UK, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is about to walk free.

This is fantastic news and it means that a very, very, important battle for press freedom has been won.

I know that there's a plea bargain involved but, quite frankly, that's a political face saving measure for the United States.

All that anybody's going to remember five years from now is that they tried Julian Assange in the United States, they tried to prosecute him over 17 charges of espionage and spying and they failed to do that. And he walked free because of a popular campaign to save him.

John Rees, Activist

• Wikileaks founder Assange freed after US plea deal
  

  Whistleblower walks free: Wikileaks founder Assange freed after US plea deal

  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from a British prison after he reached a plea deal with the US that ends his 12-year legal battle and allows him to return home to Australia.

Assange is the founder of WikiLeaks, a website that revealed US state secrets on an industrial scale, including war crimes.

They included a Collateral Murder video of a US helicopter strike in Iraq, which killed two Reuters journalists.

To his critics, Assange is a reckless criminal, to his supporters, a fierce truth teller.

This is why so many people were willing to support him; they could see the absolutely glaring injustice of the prosecution by the United States assisted by the government in this country.

I have to say the people in this country, the politicians in this country, the Home Secretaries, Suella Braverman and Priti Patel, who signed off on this now look remarkably stupid because even the United States had to realize, at the end of the day, that it would be more politically damaging to go ahead with the campaign against him than to drop the case.

John Rees, Activist

• Biden administration files appeal for Assange’s extradition
  

  Biden administration files appeal for Assange’s extradition

  A US Justice Department official has said the administration of President Joe Biden has appealed a British judge

While Assange suffered in jail, his wife Stella fought relentlessly for his freedom every day. She released a video statement ahead of his release.

Throughout the years of Julian's imprisonment and persecution an incredible movement has been formed; a movement of people from all walks of life from around the world who support not just Julian, and not just us and our family, but what Julian stands for: truth and justice.

Stella Assange, Julian Assange’s Wife

Freedom after a plea deal with the US that will bring to an end a transatlantic tug of war over one of the world's most prominent political prisoners.

It's not clear what Julian Assange will do in Australia or whether his home country will impose any restrictions on him. But what is certain is that the debate over whether he should have been put behind bars in the first place will go on.

• Australian leaders welcome return of Julian Assange
  

  Australian leaders welcome expected homecoming of Julian Assange

  The Australian prime minister says he will have more to say when these legal proceedings have concluded.

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