Julian Assange latest: WikiLeaks founder ‘free’ says wife as he boards flight after plea deal

Stella Assange, the wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian, told Reuters on Tuesday they would seek a pardon after he pleaded guilty to violating U.S. espionage law, saying the prosecution was a “very serious concern” for journalists around the world.

“The fact that there is a guilty plea, under the Espionage Act in relation to obtaining and disclosing National Defence information is obviously a very serious concern for journalists and national security journalists in general,” she said.

US presidential candidiate Donald Trump has previously indicated he could be willing to offer a pardon to Mr Assange.

In an interview, podcaster Tim Pool, asked Mr Trump: “Will you pardon Julian Assange?”

The former president responded: “Well, I’m going to talk about that today, and we’re going to give it very serious consideration. And we’re going to have a couple of other things to say in the speech that I think you’re going to love.”

Julian Assange‘s wife Stella said the couple’s children are “not yet” aware that their father has been released from prison.

Asked if she had told their children, Ms Assange told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “Not yet. All I told them was that there was a big surprise and on the morning that we left, I told them we were heading to the airport and we got on the plane and I told them that we were going to visit our family, their cousin, their grandfather and so on.

“They still don’t know – we’ve been very careful because obviously no one can stop a five and a seven-year-old from shouting it from the rooftops at any given moment.

“And because of the sensitivity around the judge having to sign off the deal, we’ve been very careful – just gradually, incrementally telling them information. They’re very excited to be in Australia though.”

Ms Assange said she would tell her children about their father’s release before they see him.

She added: “They’ve never seen him outside of Belmarsh. All their interactions with Julian have been in a single visitors room inside Belmarsh Prison. It’s always been for a little more than an hour at a time. It’s been very restrictive.

“He can’t walk around, he can’t go to the tuck shop – he wasn’t able to go to the tuck shop and buy a chocolate or anything. You see, I have to change my tenses now – it’s been so long that I’m not used to talking about Julian free in the present.”

Former Labour leader and independent parliamentary candidate Jeremy Corbyn praised Mr Assange for exposing “the crimes of the powerful” and said his imprisonment was always “a grotesque miscarriage of justice.”

He added on X, formerly Twitter: “Never stop fighting for the truth. Never lose hope. Never, ever give up.”

BBC journalist John Simpson said on X that he was “delighted” that Mr Assange is free and praised Stella Assange and the WikLeaks founder’s legal team for securing his release.

The wife of Julian Assange said her husband will “be a free man” once a plea deal with the US is “signed off by a judge”.

Asked if the case involved Mr Assange pleading guilty to one charge, Stella Assange told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “Yes, the charge concerns the Espionage Act, and obtaining and disclosing national defence information.”

Ms Assange, a lawyer who has worked on her husband’s legal team, added: “The important thing here is that the deal involved time served – that if he signed it, he would be able to walk free.

“He will be a free man once it has been signed off by a judge and that will happen some time tomorrow.”

Julian Assange is “overwhelmed” to be out of prison, his brother Gabriel Shipton has said.

The WikiLeaks founder, 52, has been released from Belmarsh and flown out of the UK as he prepares to enter a guilty plea as part of a deal with the US Justice Department that could bring an end to his long-running legal saga.

He was charged with conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information by the US government.

Mr Assange is due to be sentenced to 62 months of time already served at a hearing in the federal court in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific, on Wednesday 26 June.

His brother, Mr Shipton, discussed his release from prison with Sky News.

Julian Assange’s wife Stella Assange says she has gone through a “whirlwind of emotions” in the past 24 hours after he walked out of Belmarsh Prison and boarded a flight to leave the UK.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, she said the top priority for Mr Assange is to “get healthy again”, to be in touch with nature and to have “time and privacy”.

“I mean, I’m just elated. Frankly, it’s just incredible. It feels like it’s not real,” she said.

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.”

Kristinn Hrafnsson, the editor of WikiLeaks, said the appeal against Julian Assange’s extradition to the US was “tremendously important” in the battle for his freedom.

Speaking to the PA news agency, Mr Hrafnsson said the campaign had gathered momentum in recent weeks following the growing involvement of Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Hrafnsson was one of the last people to visit Assange in Belmarsh prison in London earlier this month.

He added: “This is the result of a long, long process which has been going on for some time. It has been a tough battle, but the focus now is on Julian being reunited with his family.

“The most important thing is that Julian is free and he is finally able to enjoy the big blue sky. Details of what will happen now will come out in the next 24 hours.

“His family will be waiting for him in Australia.”

Labour Party MP Julian Hill said Australia-born Assange’s “health is fragile” and he should not be judged for accepting a guilty plea deal with the US Justice Department in order to return home.

“No one should judge Julian for accepting a deal to get the hell out of there and come home. His health is fragile,” Mr Hill said. “Whatever you think of Assange he is an Australian and enough is enough.”

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Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, who has been lobbying for the United States to end its prosecution of Julian Assange, told parliament that an Australian envoy had flown with Assange from London. “Regardless of the views that people have about Mr Assange‘s activities, the case has dragged on for too long.

“There’s nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia,” Mr Albanese added.

Mr Albanese is being applauded for his relentless efforts in lobbying for release of Mr Assange while the previous Australian government treaded on the issue cautiously.

Before becoming the prime minister, Mr Albanese also suggested that he did not see what purpose was served by keeping Assange jailed. It became the official stance of the government when he came to power in 2022.