Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, has been released from a UK prison after agreeing to a plea deal with the US government.
Gatekeepers News reports that Assange, 52, was arrested in 2019 at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he had been seeking asylum for several years.
He was accused of violating the US Espionage Act by releasing classified documents that embarrassed the US government.
According to a statement from WikiLeaks, Assange was granted bail by the High Court in London and left Belmarsh maximum security prison on Monday morning.
The statement attributed his release to a global campaign that included grassroots organizers, press freedom advocates, legislators, and leaders from across the political spectrum, as well as the United Nations.
The plea deal, which is still subject to approval by a federal judge, would see Assange serve a 62-month sentence, equivalent to the time he has already served in the UK. This would allow him to return to Australia immediately.
As part of the deal, Assange would still need to make a court appearance in a remote US territory in the Pacific.
