LONDON, England
Julian Assange’s wife Stella on Tuesday thanked campaigners for their support as the WikiLeaks founder was released after five years in British custody.
“Julian is free!!!!” she wrote
on the social media platform X following confirmation that he had left Belmarsh
high-security prison in southeast London.
“Words cannot express our
immense gratitude” to everyone who had backed the global push for his release,
she added.
Stella Assange met the Australian publisher while he was holed up in Ecuador’s
London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges that
were later dropped.
Assange, accused of divulging
US military secrets related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, had been due
back in court in London next month after winning an appeal against extradition.
But 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, from grassroots supporters to political leaders and the
United Nations, “created the space for a long period of negotiations with the
US Department of Justice,” leading to a deal.
The organization said the deal
“has not yet been formally finalized.”
Assange was initially detained for skipping bail in relation to the Swedish
case and held in custody while the US extradition request wound its way through
court.
He will now be reunited with
his wife, whom he married at a ceremony in the prison, and their two young
children, it added.
“WikiLeaks published ground-breaking stories of government corruption and human
rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions,” the
statement read.
“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.”
No comments:
Post a Comment