WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail and headed for an English country estate, where he is set to remain under "mansion arrest" as the U.K. decides whether to extradite him to Sweden.
From WSJ:
By PAUL SONNE
LONDON—WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was released on bail Thursday night and headed for an English country estate, where he is set to remain under "mansion arrest" as the U.K. decides whether to extradite him to Sweden for questioning over sexual-misconduct allegations.
European Pressphoto Agency
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange celebrates as he emerges to speak to the media on the steps of London's High Court.
Mr. Assange's release was the latest development in an odyssey in which—amid criticism from the U.S. government over the release of thousands of classified documents—he has become enmeshed in sex-related allegations that ultimately led to his arrest in the U.K. last week.
The 39-year-old Australian had been held in U.K. police custody for nine days on a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden on the sex accusations. He was granted release from prison on £200,000 ($310,880) bail Thursday, after a U.K. court struck down an appeal that sought to keep him in custody as a flight risk.
"I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter," Mr. Assange said after exiting the Royal Courts of Justice in London around 6:00 Thursday evening. He thanked his supporters, his lawyers, those who provided money for his bail and the British justice system.
"During my time in solitary confinement in the bottom of a Victorian prison, I had time to reflect on the conditions of those people around the world also in solitary confinement," Mr. Assange said after his release, advocating for the rights of fellow prisoners.
Mr. Assange was initially granted bail on Tuesday, but British litigators acting for Sweden quickly appealed that ruling. In a hearing on Thursday, the U.K. High Court turned down the appeal.
Julian Assange comments to the press and public outside a London courthouse, thanking those who support him and WikiLeaks. He states that his release is a sign that "justice is not dead yet."
As he awaits a formal extradition hearing early next year, Mr. Assange must wear an electronic monitoring tag, observe a curfew, check in with police every day and spend every night at the same location—an estate in the English village of Bungay, northeast of London. Mr. Assange is expected to appear in court next on Jan. 11.
AFP/Getty Images
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is led into London's High Court on December 16, 2010.
The Georgian manor where Mr. Assange will be confined, Ellingham Hall, is owned by former British journalist Vaughan Smith and set on hundreds of acres. Mr. Assange's attorneys have jokingly referred to his confinement there as "mansion arrest."
Mr. Smith, a former captain in the British army, started the Frontline Club, an organization for journalists in London that supports freedom of the press and free speech. Mr. Smith met Mr. Assange for the first time in July before an event at the Frontline Club, according to the lawyer representing Swedish judicial authorities at Thursday's hearing.
The U.K. appeals-court judge on Thursday added further conditions to Mr. Assange's bail—requiring that he stay confined to the "bricks and mortar" portion of the country estate and necessitating that more people, known as "sureties" in the British legal system, be held liable for Mr. Assange's whereabouts.
Sweden's case against Mr. Assange comes as his website, WikiLeaks, continues to cause a firestorm by gradually leaking thousands of classified cables. Earlier this year it released thousands of classified files about the war in Afghanistan.
Swedish prosecutors have alleged that Mr. Assange raped one woman and molested another over the course of a single week in August, when he was visiting Sweden for a seminar, but they haven't filed formal charges against him.
One of the Swedish women alleges Mr. Assange forcibly held her arms and prevented her from moving, and had sexual intercourse with her without using a condom, despite knowing the prophylactic was a prerequisite for her. The other woman alleges Mr. Assange had sex with her while she was asleep, again failing to wear a condom despite knowing she required it.
Mr. Assange has denied the allegations and called them a smear attempt. His attorney, Mark Stephens, said in an interview last week that he believes the Swedish case is a "holding offense" that allows authorities to detain Mr. Assange while the U.S. builds a case against him. Sweden, however, has denied the case is politically motivated.
At Thursday's appeal hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr. Assange was expressionless as he sat in an iron cage, wearing a dark suit and a white shirt. Two security officers guarded him; his mother had come from Australia to watch from the gallery.
Gemma Lindfield, the British lawyer representing Sweden, tried to paint a picture of a rootless Mr. Assange being able to easily abscond before extradition, thanks to access to cash from WikiLeaks supporters. He "leads a nomadic lifestyle," has "weak community ties" to the U.K. and travels extensively, Ms. Lindfield said.
She also warned that the British residents vouching for Mr. Assange and offering money as collateral for his bail were fighting for a cause rather than giving personal assurances. Many had met him only a few months ago, she said, arguing that if Mr. Assange were to flee, his supporters might approve his move as a righteous act of protest by citing an international conspiracy and the supposed impossibility of a fair trial.
Geoffrey Robertson, the trial lawyer representing Mr. Assange, dismissed those claims. "There is not an iota of evidence" showing Mr. Assange is likely to flee, Mr. Robertson said—not "a single concrete block or even a pebble."
"There is no evidence that he has access to money," Mr. Robertson said. "His accounts have been closed down. As it happens, he is not a wealthy man."
Mr. Robertson added that fleeing would severely damage the reputation of Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks, and dismissed the notion that his client did not trust the justice system: "The idea that he has no faith in British justice is entirely wrong."
Mr. Robertson also noted that the rape allegation brought against Mr. Assange in Sweden carried maximum jail time of one year, with the sentence often reduced for good behavior. "He has no great fear of what will happen to him in Sweden," the lawyer said.
The Swedish prosecutor's office said Thursday that the decision to release Mr. Assange on bail wouldn't affect the continuing investigation into sexual-misconduct charges. "The matter of extradition is now handled by British authorities," Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny said in a statement.
Write to Paul Sonne at paul.sonne@wsj.com
