Wikileaks founder freed after five years in prison
Following a years-long legal battle, Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks has left the UK, having reached a deal with American authorities that would see him plead guilty to criminal charges and go free. The Australian national was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information by US authorities. For years, Washington has argued that the files endangered lives, having disclosed information about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange has been held in a British prison for the last five years as he fought extradition to the USA. According to CBS, he will not spend any time in custody in the US, receiving credit for the time spent locked up in the UK. He will return to Australia, a letter from the justice department said.
Assange left Belmarsh prison on Monday, 24th June. He had spent “1,901 days in a small cell,” the BBC reported. He was then “released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK,” a statement on X said.
In April, US President Joe Biden said that he would consider a request from Australia to drop the prosecution charges against the Wikileaks founder. In the following month, the British High Court ruled that Assange could bring a new appeal to fight extradition to America. This would allow him to challenge assurances from the US over how his trial would be conducted and whether his right to free speech under the first amendment would be infringed.
