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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been released from prison and left the UK after reaching a plea deal with US authorities, The Independent reports.

Court papers filed by the US Justice Department show Assange is scheduled to appear in federal court to plead guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified national defence information.

It followed the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

He will return to his home country of Australia after his plea and sentencing, scheduled for Wednesday morning local time in the Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth in the Western Pacific.

A plane carrying Assange left Stansted Airport on Monday before landing at a Bangkok airport for refuelling at around noon local time (6am BST) on Tuesday.

In a statement posted on X just after midnight on Tuesday, the official WikiLeaks account said Assange was granted bail by the High Court in London and released from Belmarsh Prison on Monday morning “after having spent 1,901 days there”.

The statement continued: “He was granted bail by the High Court in London and was released at Stansted airport during the afternoon, where he boarded a plane and departed the UK.

“This is the result of a global campaign that spanned grass-roots organisers, press freedom campaigners, legislators and leaders from across the political spectrum, all the way to the United Nations.

“This created the space for a long period of negotiations with the US Department of Justice, leading to a deal that has not yet been formally finalised.”

Video posted to X by WikiLeaks showed Assange, seated and dressed casually in jeans and a shirt, discussing the text on a sheet of paper.

He is then shown walking up steps onto a Vista Jet aircraft.

Speaking on Assange’s release, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the nation’s parliament on Tuesday “we want him brought home to Australia”.

He said: “I’ve been very clear as both the Labour leader and opposition, but also as prime minister that – regardless of the views that people have about Mr Assange’s activities – the case has dragged on for too long.

“There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”

Mr Albanese added that Australian diplomatic forces “have engaged and advocated Australia’s interest using all appropriate channels to support a positive outcome”, which he took up early in his role after being elected prime minister in 2022.

He added: “I will have more to say when these legal proceedings have concluded, which I hope will be very soon, and I will report as appropriate at that time.”