The once-elusive Julian Assange was freed on bail Thursday, releasing the WikiLeaks founder to continue his work as Sweden pushes its case for extradition and the United States considers its own criminal charges over his Web site’s release of secret information.
The silver-haired Australian emerged from London’s neo-Gothic High Court building after a tense scramble to gather the money and signatures needed to free him. Speaking under a light snowfall amid a barrage of flash bulbs, Assange — who’s been out of the public eye for more than a month — told supporters he would pursue his efforts to bring government secrets to light.
“It’s great to smell the fresh air of London again,” he said to cheers from outside the court. “I hope to continue my work.”
Assange is now headed to Ellingham Hall, a 10-bedroom mansion about 120 miles (195 kilometers) northeast of central London that belongs to Vaughan Smith, a WikiLeaks supporter and founder of London’s Frontline Club for journalists.
Assange will have to observe a curfew, wear an electronic tag and report to police every day — restrictions imposed by High Court Justice Duncan Ouseley.
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said Assange could use the 600-acre estate to continue coordinating the publication of leaked U.S. diplomatic cables, whose publication has angered U.S. government officials, embarrassed allies and nettled rivals. The U.S. State Department says that international partners are have already curtailed their dealings with Washington as a result of the cable leaks, but there’s still much more to be disclosed.
So far WikiLeaks has published some 1,621 U.S. diplomatic cables — less than 1 percent of the 250,000 cables it claims to have in reserve. A batch of 74 new cables appeared on the organization’s Web site about two hours before Assange was released.
Hrafnsson described the restrictions on Assange’s movements as amounting to…