WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears to be enjoying his “free” life after being released from a British prison nearly a month ago and returning to his native Australia.
Assange, 53, was released from London's Belmarsh prison on June 26 after a settlement was reached to end his 14-year legal fight with the US Justice Department.
Assange's wife Stella, 40, offered a rare glimpse into her husband's life after his release from prison, posting a candid family photograph showing the couple enjoying freedom on a deserted beach with their two sons Gabriel, 7, and Max, 5.
She posted the photo on her Instagram and simply captioned it: “Family photo!”
She had previously posted a photo on her husband's birthday with the caption: “Free!”
She had previously said he would use his freedom to “swim in the ocean every day.”
“He plans to sleep in a real bed. He plans to eat real food. And he plans to enjoy his freedom,” he told reporters in Australia shortly after his arrival.
Assange spent more than five years in Belmarsh fighting extradition to the United States under the 1917 Espionage Act. Before that, he spent seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault charges, which were dropped. AFP reported.
Assange had published hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents on the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks since 2010.
The material he published through WikiLeaks included a video showing civilians being killed by fire from a US helicopter gunship in Iraq in 2007.
Assange pleaded guilty to a single charge of revealing military secrets in a US Pacific island court. He was sentenced to the time he had already served and allowed to walk free.
