Assange's wife tells of joy at release under US plea deal

Julian's Assange's wife yesterday told of her elation that the WikiLeaks founder has been released from Belmarsh prison in London and will soon be a "free man" under a deal in which he will plead guilty to violating US espionage law.

- Daniel Boffey

Speaking from Australia, where she flew on Sunday to prepare for her family's new life, Stella Assange, a human rights lawyer, said she had not told the couple's two young sons, Gabriel and Max, about their father's release after five years in jail for fear of the information leaking.

She said: "All I told them was that there was a big surprise. And on the morning we left, I told them where we're heading to the airport, and we got on the plane, and I told them we were going to visit our family, their cousin, their grandfather and so on.

"And they still don't know. We've been very careful because, obviously, no one can stop a five- and a seven-year-old from, you know, shouting it from the rooftops at any given moment."

She added: "Because of the sensitivity around the judge having to sign off the deal, we've been very careful, just gradually, incrementally telling them information."

Assange, 52, flew by chartered jet via Bangkok to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory.

There, he is due to plead guilty today to a single criminal count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents, according to filings in the island's district court.

Under the deal with the US justice department, he will be free to leave the court due to time already served and to travel on to Australia to be reunited with his family.