Julian Assange’s flight landed on the US-controlled island of Saipan ahead of his plea hearing.
The founder of WikiLeaks has arrived on the remote Pacific island where he will formally end his long campaign to avoid extradition to the United States and will be a free man after 14 years.
The 52-year-old man’s flight, with call sign VJT199, arrived on the island at 6:14 local time and within a few hours he will appear before a judge to plead guilty to a charge of espionage against him.
He will then fly to his native Australia to join his wife, two young children and other family members.
The move follows his dramatic release from Belmarsh prison in London, where he spent five years, largely in solitary confinement, fighting extradition.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen approaching Bangkok airport on a private jet following his release from Belmarsh prison.
Assange flight takes off from Bangkok for six-hour flight to Saipan
The long journey Assange has undertaken since his release from Belmarsh on Monday
Assange will pay half a million dollars (£394,000) for a charter flight from Stansted, accompanied by a WikiLeaks lawyer, a representative of the Australian government and a doctor to check his health.
WikiLeaks has launched a fundraising campaign to pay for the flight.
Assange’s wife, Stella, said her relief at his release was compounded by anger at having spent so much time in prison.
She told the PA news agency she traveled to Australia with the couple’s two young children, Gabriel and Max, on Sunday when it became clear Assange would be freed.
He will plead guilty to one count under the Espionage Act of obtaining and disclosing information of national importance, and a sentence of time served is proposed.
Speaking from Australia, Ms Assange told the PA: “It is hard to believe that Julian has been in prison for so long. He had become normalised. I am grateful to the people who made this possible, but I am also angry that he ever reached this.
“Overall I’m elated, but I can’t believe this is happening until I see Julian.”
Assange said her husband’s release would not have happened without the intervention of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been increasingly vocal in demands for the United States to drop charges against Assange.
Assange pictured at Stansted Airport before his departure from the UK on Monday.
“The public climate has changed and everyone understands that Julián has been the victim,” he said.
‘Things are still very delicate. Julian will pay for the flight, so we’ll launch a fundraising campaign.
She had a video call with her husband from Sydney and showed him photographs of the Opera House.
Mrs Assange revealed that her husband left Belmarsh in the early hours of Monday and spent several hours in Stansted before his flight departed.
In a High Court order, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson said Assange left the jurisdiction of England and Wales at 6.36pm on Monday, after the plea agreement was signed on June 19.
The judges added that a plea was “anticipated to be presented and accepted on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, after which the United States undertook to withdraw the extradition request.”
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Assange’s bail hearing took place in private on June 20.
Details of the hearing have been kept secret as the CPS refused to provide further information and court listings staff were unaware of it and unable to find any record of it taking place.
The PA has since established that the hearing took place at 4pm at Westminster Magistrates’ Court before the chief magistrate, Senior District Judge Paul Goldspring, who made a court decision for this to take place at closed door under the Criminal Procedure Rules and the Contempt of Court Act 1981. This means that no additional information about the content of the hearing can be made public at this time.
Assange has been held in one of the UK’s highest security prisons since April 2019. He is pictured in May 2019.
John Sheehan, head of extradition at the CPS, said: “This has been a very complex matter involving advising and representing the Swedish and US authorities. In this period the CPS extradition unit has faced and dealt with novel legal issues and defiant. Assange has also used all available legal protections.
“This has culminated in facilitating the necessary arrangements to allow Mr Assange to leave the UK legally and safely.”
Simon Crowther, legal adviser at Amnesty International, said: “We welcome the news that Julian Assange is to be freed, as we believe he should never have been imprisoned like this in the first place.”
“However, the fight to protect freedom of expression continues. The global spectacle of years of prosecution of a publisher for revealing alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and other human rights violations has undoubtedly caused historic damage.’
In a statement posted on
The statement continued: ‘He… 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 grassroots organizers, press freedom advocates, lawmakers and leaders 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 an agreement that has not yet been formally closed.”
The video posted on X by WikiLeaks showed Assange, sitting and dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, discussing text on a sheet of paper.
He is then shown walking up the stairs to a Vista Jet plane.
Speaking about Assange’s release, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the nation’s parliament on Tuesday “we want him brought home to Australia.”
He said: “I have been very clear both as a Labor and opposition leader, but also as Prime Minister, that – whatever views people have about Mr Assange’s activities – the case has dragged on for too long.”
“There is nothing to be gained from his continued incarceration and we want him to be brought home to Australia.”
Albanese added that Australian diplomatic forces “have engaged and defended Australia’s interests using all appropriate channels to support a positive outcome”, something he assumed early in his role after being elected Prime Minister in 2022.
He added: “I will have more to say when these legal proceedings have concluded, which I hope will be very soon, and at that time I will report as appropriate.”
A letter to US Northern Mariana Islands District Court Chief Judge Ramona V Manglona, seen by PA, also confirmed that Assange intends to return to Australia once the proceedings conclude.
The WikiLeaks statement also thanked “everyone who supported us, fought for us and remained absolutely committed to the fight for your freedom.”
It said: “After more than five years in a 2×3 meter cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon be reunited with his wife Stella Assange and his children, who only know their father behind bars.”
‘WikiLeaks published groundbreaking stories about 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.
‘Upon his return to Australia, we thank everyone who supported us, fought for us and remained fully committed to the fight for his freedom. Julian’s freedom is our freedom.
In a separate post on X, Ms Assange said: ‘Julian is free!!!!
‘Words cannot express our immense gratitude to YOU, yes, YOU, who have mobilized for years and years to make this a reality. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.’
Assange’s father, John Shipton, told PA he was “elated” to hear the news of his son’s dramatic journey from the UK and that his release had “taken a huge burden” off his family.
He said recent court hearings in the UK had given him hope that “the tide was turning” in his son’s favour, along with increasing pressure from the Australian government.
Speaking from Australia, she said she hoped her son would spend time “walking the beaches and listening to the birds” in the coming weeks and months.
Assange’s mother, Christine Assange, told Australia’s Sky News that she is “grateful” that her son’s ordeal is “finally coming to an end.”
She said: ‘This shows the importance and power of quiet diplomacy. Many have used my son’s situation to further his own goals, so I am grateful to those hard-working, invisible people who put Julian’s well-being first.
“The last 14 years have obviously taken their toll on me as a mother, so I want to thank you in advance for respecting my privacy.”
Assange had been embroiled in a long legal battle in the United Kingdom over his extradition, which led to him entering and living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 before his detention in Belmarsh prison.
In a January 2021 ruling, then-District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said Assange should not be sent to the United States, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, though she ruled against him on all other issues.
Later that year, US authorities won a High Court appeal to overturn this block, paving the way for Assange’s extradition.
Assange was due to lodge his own challenge at London’s High Court in early July after he was recently given the green light to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of parts of his case.
His release from prison comes days before he turns 53 next Wednesday (July 3).
