WikiLeaks Founder, Julian Assange, after seven years of self-imposed confinement and then  five years of enforced detention – was months in the making but uncertain to last.  In the end, diplomacy, politics and law that allowed Julian Assange to take off in a private jet from London’s Stanstead airport on Monday, enroute to the Northern Mariana Islands under a a plea deal with the White house to appear before a judge to admit leaking American Military secrets before flying on to Australia and freedom. In a statement, the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) said the possibility of a plea deal “first came to our attention in March”. Since then, it has been advising the United States “ on the mechanics” of how to get Mr Assange released and to appear before a US federal judge “ in accordance with his wishes and those of the US government”. Assange (52) faces repaying Australia’s government £400,000 for private jets.

The deal originated after the election of a new Australian government in May 2022 that brought to power an administration determined to bring home one of its citizens detained overseas.

Anthony Albanese, the new Labor Prime Minister said he did not support everything Mr. Assange has done but “ enough is enough” and it was time for him to be released. He made the case a priority, largely behind closed doors. “ Not all foreign affairs is best done with the loud hailer” he said at the time.

A delegation of MPs travelled to Washington in September to lobby US Congress directly. The Prime Minister then raised the issue himself with President Joe Biden at the White House during a state visit in October, which was followed by a parliamentary vote in February when MPs overwhelmingly supported a call to urge the US and the UK to allow Mr. Assange back to Australia. They lobbied influential Caroline Kenndey, US ambassador to Australia. Steven Smith the new Australian High Commissioner in London paid an early visit to Mr Assange in Belmarsh prison in April 2023 and Kevin Rudd, the current Australian ambassador in Washington  were all key players to the negotiations.

Greg barns, a barrister and legal adviser to the Australian Assange campaign, said it was the politics that made the difference. On May 20, the High Court in the UK gave Julian Assange a legal lifeline. It ruled that he could bring a new appeal against attempts to have him extradited to stand trial in the US for obtaining and publishing military secrets. As this point he faced multiple charges under the US espionage act: 17 of publishing official secrets, each of which carried a maximum 10-year prison term, and one of hacking , which was punishable by up to five years. One key part of the judgement was about whether Mr Assange as an Australian citizen would be able to use the US constitutional First Amendment right to free speech as defence. The May ruling potentially allowed Mr Assange to argue that publishing secret US information was protected by the First Amendment, something that could have led to months if not further years of delays and pressure.

In the end, after all the years of legal and diplomatic dispute it seems that all sides simply reached a point where they wanted a deal and were willing to compromise to get one.

His 14-year fight to avoid extradition on espionage and hijacking charges, relating to publication of secret diplomatic and military document ended on Monday when he boarded a private jet at Stanstead airport. His wife Stella Moris, a member of his legal team and their sons Gabriel seven and Max five, were born while he was a fugitive living in the Ecuadorean embassy in London. They have met their father only during twice-monthly visits to Belmarsh prison in southeast London where he had been held largely in solitary confinement. British judges signed off a secret deal with US prosecutors last week, which led to Assange leaving the country on Monday afternoon. WikiLeaks said in a statement: “Wikileaks published ground-breaking stories of government corruption and human rights abuses, holding the powerful accountable for their actions. As editor-in-chief, Julian paid severely for these principles, and for the people’s right to know.” Assange’s mother Christine, said in a statement: ” Many have used my son’s situation to push their own agendas, so I am grateful to those unseen, hardworking people who put Julian’s welfare first”.

Assange’s legal battle centred on the rights of journalists who expose state wrongdoing, but he fell out with almost every major international media group with which he collaborated. His mental and physical health deteriorated during the seven years he spent in the Ecuadorean embassy and five years in Belmarsh. He fled to the embassy to avid extradition to Sweden where he was wanted over accusations of rape and sexual abuse, which he denied , or allegations that his reckless exposure of unredacted documents placed the lives of the public at risk. Vaughan Smith, the founder of the Frontline Club, a London club for foreign correspondents, allowed Assange to live at his Norfolk home for 13 months while on bail fighting extradition to Sweden.

Many Democrats still blame Assange for Hillary Clinton’s defeat to Trump in 2016, accusing of colluding with Russian intelligence when WikiLeaks published thousands of emails hacked from the servers of the Democratic National Committee. A deal to free Assange has grown in Congress, after an unlikely alliance of left-wing Democrats and hard-right Republicans lobbied Biden and the Justice Department to drop the 18 charges he was indicted on in 2019. The fig leaf of guilty plea by Assange could shield the president from blowback in the crucial final months of the presidential election campaign. The Aukus security partnership between the US, UK and Australia is now a pillar of Washington’s global defence posture towards Beijing, but a stalemate over Assange has remained a snag in the relationship.