Assange will be released immediately after the sentence.
Founder of the WikiLeaks disclosure website Julian Assange is about to be released.
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved a plea deal that will see him sentenced to five years in prison. Assange pleads guilty to violating the US Espionage Act.
Since Assange has practically been a prisoner for that time, the sentence is deemed to have been served and Assange is released.
Assange was released from a British prison in the morning, after which he transferred to a plane. He flies to the US island of Saipan in the Pacific Ocean. The judge there is to say that Assange has served his sentence and is now a free man.
Sources: Reuters, AFP