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Assange leaves UK after prison release

Mr Assange is on his way to his native Australia. Credit: Wikileaks/X

To his supporters, Julian Assange is a valiant campaigner for truth. To his critics, he is a publicity seeker who endangered lives by putting secret US military records about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars into the public domain. But the Wikileaks founder's years-long legal saga appears to be nearing an end. After five years in a British prison, he has left the UK thanks to a deal with US authorities that will see him plead guilty to one criminal charge but go free. He had been fighting extradition to the US where he had feared a lengthy prison sentence. Now Mr Assange is en route to the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific – where the deal is expected to be finalised on Wednesday. His wife, Stella, says she's elated. Our live page has details and reaction.

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• A complicated journey: From denying Swedish prosecutors' sexual assault allegations to spending seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Julian Assange’s legal saga is summed up in our timeline.

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• 'Intense, driven': Our profile describes his transformation from young hacker to a campaigner who divided opinions.

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• Document dumps: Whether exposing how the US military killed civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq or revealing disparity in film stars’ pay, Wikileaks’ revelations have shaken the world.

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