Assange has accepted a plea deal which should see his return to Australia as a free man. Follow the news liveAs we resume our live coverage of Julian Assange, here is the state of play:Julian Assange has landed on the island of Saipan, in the Northern Mariana Islands. The WikiLeaks founder was released from Belmarsh prison in London on Monday.Assange, 52, is scheduled to be sentenced in a US district court in Saipan at 9am local time on Wednesday (11pm GMT on Tuesday). Guardian correspondent Helen Davidson is on the ground in Saipan and will bring all the latest news from the Assange court hearing as it happens.He is expected to accept a charge under the US Espionage Act in front of a US federal judge. Under the deal, which must be approved by a judge, Assange is likely to be credited for the five years he has already served and face no new jail time.Supporters have celebrated his release. The dedicated band of supporters have spent years on the case, some of them over more than a decade.Experts have warned that the plea deal struck between the WikiLeaks founder and the US authorities could set a dangerous precedent. Many press freedom advocates have argued that criminally charging Assange represents a threat to free speech.There was a mixed reaction to the news of the plea deal across the US political spectrum. James Clapper, director of US national intelligence in 2010 when Assange and his WikiLeaks organisation published secret US intelligence documents with a consortium of newspaper, said Assange had “paid his dues”. Former US vice-president Mike Pence, however, described Assange’s plea deal as “a miscarriage of justice and dishonors the service and sacrifice of the men and women of our armed forces and their families”.WikiLeaks said Assange had left Belmarsh prison on Monday morning, after 1,901 days of captivity there. He had spent the time, the organisation said, “in a 2x3 metre cell, isolated 23 hours a day”.Assange was set to be reunited with his wife, Stella, and their two children. Stella Assange, a human rights lawyer, spoke of her elation that he has been released and will soon be a “free man”. She said she had not yet informed their two boys, aged five and seven, of the plans for fear of the information leaking. Continue reading...
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