Julian Assange is finally a free man. The WikiLeaks co-founder was released from Belmarsh prison on Monday morning after 1,901 days of being kept inside the maximum-security location.
On May 20, judges at the UK high court in London had granted Assange the right to appeal his United States extradition and, on June 24, he was finally granted bail and was released at Stansted airport from where he boarded a plane and departed for Australia.
“This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations,” WikiLeaks wrote on X.
“This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised. We will provide more information as soon as possible.”
We are delighted that our friend Julian has finally been released after a long and arduous time in prison for a non-crime. He remained in solitary confinement for five years in Belmarsh prison for the crime of being a proper journalist, exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For us at MERA25 and DiEM25, in which Julian has been with us from the beginning as a founding member, the liberation of our comrade is a milestone: the fight for justice is never in vain.
This is the moment to redouble our efforts to free every political prisoner, everywhere!
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