Official celebrations pour in amid Assange's release from Belmarsh
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Country officials have welcomed Julian Assange's release from prison early Tuesday.
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Julian Assange speaks to the media outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, May 19, 2017. (AP)
In light of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange's release from Belmarsh Prison in the UK, country officials extended their congratulations and celebrations, welcoming Assange's newfound freedom.
On Tuesday, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took to X to welcome Assange's release from jail, saying, "I celebrate the release of Julian Assange from prison. At least in this case, the Statue of Liberty did not remain an empty symbol; she is alive and happy, like millions of people in the world."
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, in turn, congratulated Assange on his freedom and invited the Wikileaks founder and his wife, Stella, to visit Colombia.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said that Assange's stay in prison would "remain in the memory of the people as proof of how little his jailers believe in freedom of the press."
Meanwhile, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) also hailed Assange's release, with leader Jodie Ginsberg saying his prosecution set a "dangerous precedent for journalists and media freedom" worldwide.
Read more: Why the US is trying to imprison Assange: Report from inside the Court
One signature away from complete freedom
Assange had been imprisoned in the high-security Belmarsh prison in London since April 2019 after British police were allowed to raid the Ecuadorian Embassy where he had secured asylum since 2012.
The United States sought to put Assange on trial for publishing US military secrets and evidence of war crimes in the American wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is accused of publishing some 700,000 confidential documents relating to US military and diplomatic activities, starting in 2010.
Earlier today, newly filed court papers indicated that Julian Assange entered into a plea deal with the United States government that could see him freed soon.
This latest development means that Assange is likely to strike a plea deal with the US government that would have him face a sentence of 62 months, equivalent to the time he has already spent in Belmarsh.
Assange is set to be released after a judge finalizes an agreement between him and the US Justice Department at a court hearing on Saipan Island, his wife Stella revealed on Tuesday.
Stella told the BBC that there is "an agreement in principle between Julian and the Department of Justice," and that "once the judge signs off on it, then it is formally real."
She also confirmed that Assange is currently in Bangkok en route to the Northern Mariana Islands for the hearing.
