Julian Assange is free: WikiLeaks confirms its founder is flying home

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who published thousands of US classified documents in 2010 in the biggest journalistic exposésince the Watergate scandal, was released from prison after five years in British custody. WikiLeaks posted on social media a video of Assange boarding a flight at London's Stansted Airport on Monday (June 24) evening for a US Pacific Island close to Australia.

The announcement that Assange is free came shortly after the US media reported that he struck a deal with the US authorities under which he is set to plead guilty this week to violating US espionage law. The deal purportedly allows him to return home to Australia.

US prosecutors said in a court filing that Assange, 52, has agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents.

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Assangewill now be reunited with his wife, Stella,whom he married at a ceremony in the prison, and their two young children.

'Words cannot express our immense gratitude': Stella Assange

Julian Assange's wife Stella on Tuesday (June 25) thanked Assange's supporters worldwideas the WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh high-security prison in southeast London.

"Julian is free!!!!" she wrote on X.

"Words cannot express our immense gratitude" to everyone who had backed the global push for his release, she added.

Stella met Assange while he was lodged in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges that were later dropped.

WikiLeaks said in a statement: "Julian Assange is free. He left Belmarsh maximum security prison on the morning of June 24, after having spent 1,901 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."

The media freedom group said sustained campaigning globally "created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice", leading to a deal.

The organisation said the deal "has not yet been formally finalised".

Assange was initially detained for skipping bail in relation to the Swedish caseand held in custody while the US extradition request wrangledits way through British courtrooms.

(With inputs from agencies)