A plane in which Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is believed to be travelling on arrived in Bangkok on Tuesday, in the first part of a deal with the United States that set him free from prison in Britain and ends a long legal odyssey.
After his layover in Bangkok, the Australian national flies to the Northern Mariana Islands, a remote US Pacific island territory. There he is to plead guilty to one charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents at a federal courthouse.
In return, Assange will be spared imprisonment in the United States.
Following his plea hearing on the island of Saipan, Assange can travel on to his home country Australia as a free man.
Assange, 52, had been held for the past five years in Belmarsh prison in London, from where he has fought a US extradition request.
He is accused of having stolen and published, in 2010, secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, putting the lives of US informants in danger. He was facing up to 175 years in US prison if convicted.
His supporters see the Wikileaks founder as a journalist who brought war crimes to light.
Wikileaks posted a photo of Assange on the plane on X and wrote: "Approaching Bangkok airport for a stopover. Moving closer to freedom."
According to Australian media, the aircraft was due to take off from Bangkok at 9 pm (1400 GMT) on a roughly 11-hour flight to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.
A letter from the US Department of Justice to the judge in charge, Ramona Manglona, states that the location was chosen because Assange did not want to travel to the United States and the archipelago is close to Australia.
Australia welcomes its citizen's release
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday welcomed the development and said his country was providing assistance to Assange.
"The government is certainly aware that Australian citizen Mr Julian Assange has legal proceedings scheduled in the United States," Albanese told Australia's parliament during Question Time, calling the news a "welcomed development."
Family waiting in Australia
Wikileaks told X that there had been long negotiations with the US Department of Justice.
"After more than five years in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day, he will soon reunite with his wife Stella Assange, and their children, who have only known their father from behind bars," Wikileaks wrote on X.
His wife published a photo on X that was reportedly taken in Sydney and shows a video call with her husband from Stansted Airport.
"Frankly, it's just incredible. It feels like it's not real," Stella Assange told the BBC in an interview.
She had not yet had time to discuss what the couple would do after their release, but said his health is a priority.
Assange's parents thanked the supporters who had campaigned for their son for years and said they were grateful that their ordeal is over.
US former vice president Pence unhappy
"Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Pence wrote on X.
"The Biden administration’s plea deal with Assange is a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our Armed Forces and their families. There should be no plea deals to avoid prison for anyone that endangers the security of our military or the national security of the United States. Ever.
The Assange deal could be a topic for Thursday's debate between US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump.
Unnoticed departure from Britain
It had been speculated for several months that such a deal would put an end to the Assange case. Nevertheless, the timing comes as a surprise. Unnoticed by the public, Assange was released from the London prison on Monday and taken to Stansted Airport. A video released by Wikileaks overnight showed the Australian boarding the jet in a shirt and jeans, glasses pushed into his hair.
