Why did the US choose to reach a deal with Assange?published at 12:16 British Summer Time 25 June

12:16 BST 25 June

Nomia Iqbal
BBC News, Washington

As we just reported, this deal was signed between the Americans and Julian Assange and his team just last week - Wednesday, 19 June.

We are yet to find out exactly why the US has taken this rather dramatic reversal in policy.

Three years ago, the US Justice Department said it would pursue extradition - although President Biden did indicate in April this year he was considering Australia’s request to resolve the legal limbo.

We are of course in a presidential election year and it’s hard not to see everything through that lens. Biden's opponent Donald Trump said last month he would consider pardoning Assange if he won November’s election.

The decision is dividing lawmakers here in both Democratic and Republican parties. There are those whom consider Assange a menace who endangered soldiers’ lives. Others see him as a free speech hero who simply exposed US war secrets to the public.

In London, the High Court has published more details of Julian Assange's case., external

As a reminder, Assange was - until yesterday - being held in a UK prison, while fighting extradition to the US.

The document says:

• Assange was granted bail to allow him to travel to the "US District Court in Saipan, pursuant to a plea agreement signed by the parties on 19 June 2024"
• The deal agrees "a plea of guilty to one count on the indictment with a proposed sentence of time served"
• Assange left the UK at 18:36 on Monday
• It is "anticipated that a plea will be entered and accepted on Wednesday 26 June 2024, after which the United States have undertaken to withdraw the extradition request"

Image source, UK Judiciary

Stella Assange has just shared the details of her husband's flight on social media - asking people to follow it closely when he makes the journey from Thailand to the Northern Mariana Islands.

"We need all eyes on his flight in case something goes wrong," she says.

His flight, VJT199, landed in Bangkok from London and will "soon take off again and fly into US airspace where he will appear before a US judge".

We're also tracking the flight - and will let you know once it sets off for Saipan.

Image source, .

Image source, EPA

We're now hearing from John Shipton, Julian Assange's father. He tells PA news agency that his son's freedom has "lifted a huge burden" from his family.

After news broke in the early hours of Tuesday, Shipton thanked the Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and Assange's supporters who made his expected return to Australia possible.

Speaking to ABC News earlier, he said: "I don't fade easily, you know. And neither does Julian. It must be a family trait."

Image source, Getty Images

Julian Assange left Stansted Airport near London on Monday, after being released from the high security Belmarsh prison.

Accompanied by Australia's UK high commissioner, Assange flew to Bangkok to refuel before setting off for the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific, later on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Assange will appear before a judge in the capital Saipan where he will plead guilty to one charge relating to the Espionage Act.

He will not have to serve a jail sentence because the US Justice Department will factor in the time he has already served in prison in the UK.

All going as planned, Assange will then return to Australia - where his wife and children await his arrival.

The chartered flights, which will cost $500,000 (£393,715), were financed by the Australian government but Assange will repay with campaign funds.

Image source, .

In the past hour, Wikileaks has posted this picture of Julian Assange, which - it says - was taken on the approach to Bangkok airport.

Image source, Wikileaks

Alan Rusbridger, former editor of the Guardian, worked with Julian Assange and Wikileaks on a series of stories for the paper.

He tells our colleagues on BBC Radio Wales that Assange is a "difficult man to work with - there is no secret about that", but adds his release is "long overdue".

Rusbridger says the stories the Guardian published alongside Wikileaks were, at the time, "acclaimed as some of the most important stories that have been published this century”.

“I think it’s the duty of journalists to publish that kind of information.”

But Rusbridger fears Assange's five years in prison will be "quite the deterrent for editors of journalists who want to do this kind of work in the future".

"National security of all areas of life needs to be kept under scrutiny," he says. "I think now there is a wide-spread attempt, after Edward Snowden as well, to try to punish whistle blowers and journalists to stop them reporting that beat."

Image source, Getty Images

Earlier we reported that Julian Assange's flight from the UK to Australia (via Thailand and the Northern Mariana Islands) would cost $500,000 (£393,715).

Stella Assange now tells the BBC's Newshour programme that the Australian government has agreed to pay the money, which will be repaid by the Assange campaign.

Australia has played a pivotal role in securing Assange's plea deal and the country's High Commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, accompanied Assange when he left the UK on Monday.

Assange's wife last spoke to him as he was leaving Stansted Airport. She says he was "hugely relieved" to be out of Belmarsh prison, where he had been kept in an isolation cell "for 22 hours a day".

Asked how the family is feeling after news broke last night, Stella Assange says they're "overjoyed that this is going to be a reality".

Image source, Reuter

As we've been reporting, Julian Assange founded Wikileaks, and the platform is currently led by Kristinn Hrafnsson.

The Icelandic journalist says Assange's plea deal is "the result of a long, long process", with more details to be released in the next 24 hours.

"It has been a tough battle," Hrafnsson adds, saying the focus is now on Assange being reunited with his family.

He says the campaign to free Assange gained momentum in the last couple of weeks, after growing involvement from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and a High Court decision in London, which allowed Assange to appeal against being extradited to the US.

Image source, PA Media

Stella Assange now tells Reuters news agency they will seek a pardon after her husband's expected guilty plea in a US courtroom in the Northern Mariana Islands.

She says her husband's expected prosecution under the Espionage Act was a "very serious concern" for journalists across the world.

Any future pardon would be granted by the US president.

We're getting more lines now from Julian Assange's wife, Stella. Earlier she spoke live to the BBC - she is now talking to news agencies.

She tells the PA agency that Assange's plane, taking him from the UK to Australia, via Bangkok and a court hearing in the Northern Mariana Islands, will cost $500,000 (£393,715).

There will be a fundraising campaign, she adds to the Reuters agency.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Getty Images

Former US Vice President Mike Pence has strongly criticised Assange's plea deal, calling it a "miscarriage of justice", adding that he should have "been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law".

In a post on X, he said, external: "There should be no plea deals to avoid prison for anyone that endangers the... national security of the United States. Ever."

Simon Atkinson
Australia producer, BBC News

Greg Barns, an Australian barrister and adviser to the Assange Campaign, tells the BBC that Assange’s release is a ”great day”.

He says pressure from the Australian government and across the political spectrum - including a delegation that visited the US last year - made it clear to the Americans there was a lot of political support for Assange’s return home.

“It’s pretty clear that Julian can now start to move on with his life,” Barns says.

As a reminder, Julian Assange was - until yesterday - in Belmarsh prison in the UK, where he was fighting extradition to the US.

Last month, the High Court in London allowed him to bring a new appeal against that extradition. That hearing was due to take place next month.

The UK Home Office this morning declined to comment on the deal that has seen him leave Britain, saying: "As the case is subject to ongoing legal proceedings, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage."

Our colleagues at Radio 4 earlier spoke to Stella Assange, the Wikileaks founder's wife:

• She described the days running up to the US deal as "non-stop" - and said she was feeling a "whirlwind" of emotions
• "I mean, I'm just elated," she said. "Frankly, it's just incredible. It feels like it's not real"
• The deal, which will see Assange plead guilty to one charge in the Espionage Act, was "touch and go" at times
• "We weren't really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening," she said
• But she emphasised she was "limited" in what she could say before her husband's court appearance on Wednesday at the Northern Mariana Islands - as only "once the judge signs off on it, then it is formally real"
• "The deal itself will be made public and I think it's a very interesting deal," she said

• Julian will be a "free man" once that deal is signed
• "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"

Ryn Jirenuwat
Reporting from Bangkok

I've been scouting the area around Bangkok's Don Mueang International airport for the past few hours. As a reminder, Assange's plane is refuelling here, before he heads to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Local security has been tight since around 10:30 local time - just a few hours before Assange's plane landed. The private jet terminal is quiet.

Some officials can be seen, as well as Thai journalists from various news organisations - though we were later kicked out of the private terminal compound.

Assange couldn't be seen from outside the terminal at all - and its likely he will not leave the terminal due to immigration protocols.

It's just after 08:30 in London and 17:30 in Sydney and the Northern Mariana Islands (a US territory in the Pacific).

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has left UK prison and is on his way to the Northern Mariana Islands, via Bangkok.

• Assange and US authorities have agreed he will plead guilty to one charge under the Espionage Act, instead of the 18 charges he was originally accused of, relating to Wikileaks publishing confidential US military records
• Assange has previously denied the charges, saying the leaks were an act of journalism
• But on Wednesday, he is expected to plead guilty in a US courtroom in the Northern Mariana Islands, before moving to Australia as a free man

• In an interview with the BBC, his wife Stella Assange says the run-up has been a "whirlwind of emotions", and she's "elated" by the developments

• As reported by the BBC's US partner, CBS News, US prosecutors recommended a 62-month prison sentence following the guilty plea
• But the deal means Assange will not spend any time in a US prison, as he has already served time in UK prison
• "We want him brought home to Australia," Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said earlier - adding that regardless of people's opinions on the case, it "has dragged on for too long"

Stella Assange says she hasn't yet had time to discuss what she and Julian Assange will do once he is freed.

She says the "priority" is for her husband "to get healthy again - he's been in a terrible state for five years".

The couple will focus on being "in contact with nature", she says.

As a reminder, Assange will move to Australia, once his deal is signed off by the court in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Stella Assange is now speaking about how the couple's children, aged five and seven, are reacting to news that their father might be released.

She says "no-one can stop" a five or a seven-year-old from shouting from the rooftops at any given moment, so they still don't know their father is due to be freed - given the judge still has to sign off the deal.

Assange says she is "gradually, incrementally telling them information".

"They're very excited to be in Australia though," she adds, saying they flew from London recently.