WikiLeaker Julian Assange was freed yesterday and placed on “mansion arrest” at a 600-acre British estate, where he plans to plot out his legal defense and launch a new wave of embarrassing US diplomatic cables.
The silver-haired Australian raised his fists in triumph as he left London’s High Court building and said, “I hope to continue my work.”
He was escorted away in a car driven by former war correspondent Vaughan Smith, whose 10-bedroom mansion will be Assange’s home at least until his extradition trial in February.
Smith said Assange would be under “if not house arrest, at least under mansion arrest” at the estate 120 miles northeast of central London.
Swedish authorities, who want to try Assange for alleged sexual attacks on two female supporters of WikiLeaks, had argued that if granted bail, he would flee.
But High Court Justice Duncan Ouseley said he believed Assange wanted to remain in Britain “to clear his name.”
“If he were not to do so, the allegations would always be hanging over him,” Ouseley said.
Outside court, Smith said Assange couldn’t escape into the woods outside his mansion even if he wanted to — because Assange can’t read a map.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said Assange could use his freedom to coordinate the further publication of leaked US diplomatic cables. So far, only about 1,600 of the 250,000 cables WikiLeaks claims to possess have been released.
“There is a good Internet connection there,” Hrafnsson said of the Smith mansion.
Assange’s supporters feverishly collected donations yesterday before they were able to post the bail of more than $300,000.
“We are utterly delighted and thrilled,” Mark Stephens, one of Assange’s lawyers, said after bail was granted.
“He will not be going back to that Victorian prison; he will not be going back to that cell once occupied by Oscar Wilde.”
Assange, who had been in jail since Dec. 7, said his main concern was not the sex charges.
“I don’t have too many fears about being extradited to Sweden. There are much bigger concerns about being extradited to the US,” he told reporters.
Federal prosecutors are believed to be building a case to try Assange for violating the Espionage Act by divulging the confidential cables on the WikiLeaks Web site.