01:41Julian Assange got his first taste of freedom outside the US district courthouse in Saipan on Wednesday, after the judge accepted the plea deal he had struck with American authorities.
Footage shows him walking from the courthouse building to his waiting car.
Assange had entered a 'guilty' plea to a single charge of espionage. While the offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of time served, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
According to media reports, she also wished Assange a 'happy early birthday' and said he was a 'free man'. The US side confirmed that it was withdrawing the UK extradition request.
The WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh on Monday evening after reaching the plea deal, boarding a plane at London's Stansted Airport.
The hearing's location in Saipan - the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth - was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and his own opposition to travelling to the United States.
He had been detained in the London prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.
First taste of freedom! Assange leaves US district courtroom for Saipan airport
Julian Assange got his first taste of freedom outside the US district courthouse in Saipan on Wednesday, after the judge accepted the plea deal he had struck with American authorities.
Footage shows him walking from the courthouse building to his waiting car.
Assange had entered a 'guilty' plea to a single charge of espionage. While the offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of time served, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
According to media reports, she also wished Assange a 'happy early birthday' and said he was a 'free man'. The US side confirmed that it was withdrawing the UK extradition request.
The WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh on Monday evening after reaching the plea deal, boarding a plane at London's Stansted Airport.
The hearing's location in Saipan - the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth - was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and his own opposition to travelling to the United States.
He had been detained in the London prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.
Julian Assange got his first taste of freedom outside the US district courthouse in Saipan on Wednesday, after the judge accepted the plea deal he had struck with American authorities.
Footage shows him walking from the courthouse building to his waiting car.
Assange had entered a 'guilty' plea to a single charge of espionage. While the offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of time served, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
According to media reports, she also wished Assange a 'happy early birthday' and said he was a 'free man'. The US side confirmed that it was withdrawing the UK extradition request.
The WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh on Monday evening after reaching the plea deal, boarding a plane at London's Stansted Airport.
The hearing's location in Saipan - the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth - was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and his own opposition to travelling to the United States.
He had been detained in the London prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.