WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has boarded a plane leaving the UK after reportedly agreeing a plea deal to walk free.
Assange, 52, has been held in prison in London for the last five years and fought extradition to the United States.
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A video released by WikiLeaks on X showed the founder boarding a plane out of the UK from Stansted Airport at 5pm on Monday.
The footage also shows Assange travelling to the airport via a car, before signing documents and walking towards the aircraft.
It comes as US authorities are understood to have agreed to drop their demand for Julian Assange to be extradited from the UK.
In return for pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information, Assange will be sentenced to time served, 62 months – the time he has already spent in a British prison.
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Court documents revealing Assange’s plea deal were filed in the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific Ocean.
Assange is expected to appear in the U.S. federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands later this week.
He is, however, expected to get credit for the five years he has already served behind bars in the UK and could face no new prison time.
It would mean that he is free to return to Australia, where he was born.
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Assange has been held in the high-security Belmarsh Prison on the outskirts of London for half a decade.
The charges against him stem from one of the largest publications of classified information in American history.
WikiLeaks rose to prominence in 2010 as it published a series of leaks provided by a US Army intelligence analyst named Chelsea Manning.
The information included the Baghdad airstrike Collateral Murder video, the Afghanistan war logs, the Iraq war logs, and Cablegate.
American prosecutors had alleged that Assange put lives at risk when publishing the information online.
Being in fear of the US government, Assange took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London.
WikiLeak’s official X account, formerly Twitter, claimed that Assange was “free” and has already departed the UK.
The post read: “Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, 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.
Timeline of Assange’s legal battle
2006 – Assange founds Wikileaks
April 2010 – Website releases leaked vid from a US helicopter allegedly showing an air strike that killed civilians in Baghdad
July 2010 – WikiLeaks shares more than 91,000 docs
August 2010 – Arrest warrant is issued for Assange over two separate allegations, one of rape and one of molestation, after he visits Sweden for a speaking trip. He is questioned by police in Stockholm and denies the allegations
November 2010 – International arrest warrant issued by Swedish police through Interpol after court approves a request to detain him for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion
December 2010 – Assange surrenders to police in London and is detained pending an extradition hearing. The High Court grants Assange bail
February 2011 – A district court in Britain rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden
June 2012 – Assange enters the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London, seeking asylum, after his bids to appeal the extradition ruling fail. Police set up an around-the-clock guard to arrest him if he steps outside
August 2012 – Assange is granted political asylum by Ecuador
July 2014 – Assange loses his bid to have an arrest warrant issued in Sweden against him cancelled. A judge in Stockholm upholds the warrant alleging sexual offenses against two women
March 2015 – Swedish prosecutors ask to question Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy
August 2015 – Swedish prosecutors drop investigations into some allegations against Assange because of the statute of limitations; an investigation into a rape allegation remains active
October 2015 – Metropolitan Police end their 24-hour guard outside the Ecuadorian Embassy but say theyll arrest Assange if he leaves, ending a three-year police operation estimated to have cost millions
February 2016 – Assange claims total vindication as the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention finds that he has been unlawfully detained and recommends he be immediately freed and given compensation. Britain calls the finding frankly ridiculous
September 2018 – Ecuador’s president says his country and Britain are working on a legal solution to allow Assange to leave the embassy
October 2018 – Assange seeks a court injunction pressing Ecuador to provide him basic rights he said the country agreed to when it first granted him asylum
November 2018 – A U.S. court filing that appears to inadvertently reveal the existence of a sealed criminal case against Assange is discovered by a researcher. No details are confirmed
April 2019 – Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno blames WikiLeaks for recent corruption allegations; Ecuador’s government revokes Assange’s asylum status. London police haul Assange out of the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrest him for breaching bail conditions in 2012, as well as on behalf of U.S. authorities
May 2019 – Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012.
May 2019 – The U.S. government indicts Assange on 18 charges over WikiLeaks publication of classified documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
November 2019 – Swedish prosecutor drops rape investigation.
May 2020 – An extradition hearing for Assange is delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
June 2020 – The U.S. files a new indictment against Assange that prosecutors say underscores Assanges efforts to procure and release classified information.
January 2021 – A British judge rules Assange cannot be extradited to the U.S. because he is likely to kill himself if held under harsh U.S. prison conditions.
July 2021 – The High Court grants the U.S. government permission to appeal the lower court’s ruling blocking Assange’s extradition.
December 2021 – The High Court rules that U.S. assurances about Assange’s detention are enough to guarantee he would be treated humanely.
March 2022 – Britain’s Supreme Court refuses to grant Assange permission to appeal against his extradition.
June 2022 – Britain’s government orders the extradition of Assange to the United States. Assange appeals.
May 2023 – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Assange should be released and nothing is served by his ongoing incarceration.
June 2023 – A High Court judge rules Assange cannot appeal his extradition.
February 20, 2024 – Assange’s lawyers launch a final legal bid to stop his extradition at the High Court.
March 26, 2024 – Two High Court judges in London give U.S. authorities three more weeks to submit further assurances, including a guarantee that Assange won’t get the death penalty, before deciding whether they will grant him a new appeal against his extradition.
May 20, 2024 – The two High Court judges rule that Assange can mount a new appeal based on arguments about whether he will receive free-speech protections or be at a disadvantage because he is not a U.S. citizen. The date of the hearing has yet to be determined.
June 24, 2024 – The U.S. Justice Department says in a letter filed in court that, under a deal with the agency, Assange will be allowed to walk free in return for pleading guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defense information.
“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.
“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.”
The post said it would provide more information “as soon as possible,” before adding: “After more than five years in a 2×3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars.
“WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions.
“As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know.
“As he returns to Australia, we thank all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom. Julian’s freedom is our freedom.”
Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador due to fears of political persecution and extradition to the United States.
He remained in the Embassy of Ecuador in London for approximately seven years.
He was granted Ecuadorian citizenship in 2018 but the asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with the Ecuadorian authorities in 2019.
Assange was forcibly carried out of the embassy and arrested in April 2019.
In May 2019, he was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act and was sentenced to serve 50 weeks in a UK prison.
The US government also unsealed an indictment against Assange for alleged computer intrusion, related to the leaks provided by Manning.
Towards the end of May 2019, the US government also charged Assange with violating the Espionage Act of 1917.
Biggest bombshells revealed by WikiLeaks
WIKILEAKS made a series of controversial leaks after being founded in 2006.
These included:
November 2007 – US Army manual for Guantanamo prison camp
One of the first big releases for WikiLeaks was a 238-page Army manual showing operating procedures for Guantanamo Bay. It revealed the US army were keeping some prisoners from Red Cross inspectors and holding new prisoners in isolation for two weeks to make them more compliant for interrogators.
November 2009 – Confidential messages sent on 9/11
More than 500,000 confidential messages regarding the 9/11 terrorist attacks were published on the site. They included exchanges between Pentagon, FBI, FEMA and New York Police Department officials.
April 2010 – Footage of US helicopter fire killing civilians in Iraq
WikiLeaks posted a leaked video from a US helicopter showing an airstrike killing civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters staff.
July & October 2010 – War docs from Iraq and Afghanistan
Half a million classified documents about US military action in Iraq and Afghanistan were published. Information included civilian deaths, hunt for Osama bin Laden and Iran’s backing of militants in Iraq.
July & October 2016 – Stolen emails
In 2016, WikiLeaks shared 20,000 Democratic National Committee emails which US intelligence later said had been stolen by Russian hackers. They appeared to show the DNC favoured Hillary Clinton over opponent Bernie Saunders, and had provided her with debate questions in advance.
The Department of Justice “broadened” the charges against him in June, claiming he conspired with the web activist group Anonymous.
If convicted, he would have been held in isolation at the maximum-security Supermax jail in Colorado, described as a “fate worse than death” by a former warden.
Assange has been fighting extradition to the U.S. for more than a decade.
In March, the High Court in London gave him permission for a full hearing on his appeal as he sought assurances that he could rely upon the First Amendment at a trial in the United States.
In May, two judges on the High Court said he could have a full hearing on whether he would be discriminated against in the US because he is a foreign national.
A hearing on the issue of Assange’s free speech rights had been scheduled for July 9-10.
Assange has two children with lawyer and now-wife Stella Morris while living at the Ecuadorian embassy.
In a pre-recorded video message released on Monday, Stella said: “It’s exactly 12 years today since Julian went into the embassy of Ecuador, which granted him political asylum.
“But this period of ours lives, I’m confident now, has come to an end, and I think by this time next week Julian will be free.”
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The pair tied the knot in March 2022.
Assange was previously married to Teresa Assange from 1989 to 1999, with whom he has one son.
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