Julian Assange Released from UK Prison, Set to Return to Australia

Assange, 52, will admit to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defense documents, as stated in a filing with the US District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands. Freed from the UK's high-security Belmarsh prison on Monday, Assange was taken to the airport and left the country.

He is scheduled to appear at a court in Saipan, a US Pacific territory, at 9 am on Wednesday (23:00 GMT on Tuesday), where he will be sentenced to 62 months of time already served.

"Julian Assange is free," WikiLeaks announced in a statement on X. "He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of 24 June, after spending 1,901 days there. He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport in the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK."

A video posted by WikiLeaks on X shows Assange in a blue shirt and jeans, signing a document before boarding a private jet. After the hearing in Saipan, he will return to Australia, according to the WikiLeaks statement.

"Julian is free!!!!" his wife Stella wrote on X. "Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU – yes, YOU, who have all mobilized for years and years to make this come true. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU."