Julian Assange’s wife has spoken of her elation as she prepares to reunite with him in Australia following his release from London’s Belmarsh prison.
The Wikileaks founder is on his way to his home country after striking a plea deal with US authorities who were engaged in a years-long battle to get him extradited to face espionage charges.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Stella Assange said she is “elated - frankly it’s just incredible, it feels like it’s not real”.
Speaking from Australia, she said she was feeling a “whirlwind of emotions”.
She told presenter Mishal Husain she is “limited” about what she can say about the plea agreement with the US Department of Justice.
But she confirmed the deal includes Assange pleading guilty to one charge relating to the Espionage Act.
He will formally become a free man once a judge in the Northern Mariana Islands - which Assange is headed - signs off on the deal.
Asked about the conversations that led to his release, Ms Assange said: “Well, it’s been so touch and go, we weren’t really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening.
“We were talking about - I don’t know what he needed to do and take from his cell and I also had to pack things up, and head out to Australia 24 hours before he left.
“So it’s just been non-stop for the past, I think, 72 hours.”
Taking to X earlier, Mrs Assange said: “Julian is free!!!!
“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU- yes YOU, who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true. THANK YOU. tHANK YOU. THANK YOU.”
She later posted a picture of her speaking to Assange on the phone from in front of Sydney Opera House.
Julian calling into Sydney from Stansted airport last night (his day time).#AssangeJet #AssangeFree pic.twitter.com/KIz3cZp498
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 25, 2024
“Julian calling into Sydney from Stansted airport last night (his day time),” she wrote.
Court papers filed by the US Justice Department show Assange is scheduled to appear in federal court to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information.
It followed the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
He will return to his home country of Australia after his plea and sentencing, scheduled for Wednesday morning local time in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific.
A plane carrying Assange left Stansted Airport on Monday before landing at a Bangkok airport for refuelling at around noon local time (6am BST) on Tuesday.
In a statement posted on X just after midnight on Tuesday, the official WikiLeaks account said Assange was granted bail by the High Court in London and released from Belmarsh Prison on Monday morning “after having spent 1,901 days there”.
The statement continued: “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.
“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.”
Video posted to X by WikiLeaks showed Assange, seated and dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, discussing the text on a sheet of paper.
He is then shown walking up steps onto a Vista Jet aircraft.
A letter to the United States chief judge of the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands Ramona V Manglona, as seen by the PA news agency, confirmed Assange intends to return to Australia once proceedings conclude.
The WikiLeaks statement also thanked “all who stood by us, fought for us, and remained utterly committed in the fight for his freedom”.
It said: “After more than five years in a 2x3 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 ground-breaking 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 had been locked in a lengthy legal battle in the UK over his extradition, which saw him enter and live in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in 2012 before his detention in Belmarsh prison.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said Mr Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, while ruling against him on all other issues.
Later that year, US authorities won a High Court bid to overturn this block, paving the way towards Assange’s extradition.
Assange was due to bring his own challenge to the High Court in London in early July after he was recently given the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of parts of his case.
Assange has been in custody at HMP Belmarsh for more than five years, fighting his lengthy legal battle against extradition to the United States.
