GENEVA: The United Nations on Tuesday hailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's release from detention in Britain as "significant steps towards definitively settling this case".
Assange was set to face a final court hearing after reaching a plea deal with United States authorities that brings to a close his years-long legal drama.
"We welcome the release of Julian Assange from detention in the UK," UN rights office spokeswoman Liz Throssell said, adding that the final plea deal was still awaiting approval.
"As we had noted repeatedly, this case raised a series of human rights concerns," she said.
Assange has agreed to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence information, according to a document filed in court in the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific.
He is due in court on Wednesday.
"The increasingly protracted detention of Assange also raised separate issues of concern," Throssell said, adding: "We will continue to monitor developments over the coming days."
Assange's wife Stella said she was "elated" that he will be a "free man" after a US judge signs off on his landmark plea deal on Wednesday.
Stella Assange said the end of the years-long legal drama that saw him board a plane from London to Bangkok on Monday had been a "whirlwind of emotions".
"I'm just elated. Frankly, it's just incredible," the South African-born rights campaigner told BBC radio.
"We weren't really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening."
The Australian is due to appear in court in the US territory on Wednesday. Assange is expected to plead guilty at the court hearing to conspiracy to unlawfully obtain and distribute classified documents as part of a deal with the US justice system and be sentenced to more than five years in prison.
The sentence corresponds to the length of time the whistleblower has already spent in a high-security prison in London.
The 52-year-old is then expected to travel on to his homeland in Australia.
Washington accuses Assange of stealing and publishing secret material from military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan — thereby jeopardising the lives of US citizens — with the whistleblower known at the time as Bradley Manning, who has since transitioned to live as Chlesea Manning. — dpa & AFP
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