Julian Assange Freed: Justice 'Is Not Dead Yet'

LONDON, Dec. 16, 2010— -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange emerged from a London prison with his hand raised today, into the bright lights of camera flashes after he posted $315,000 bail stemming from sexual assault charges.

In his first appearance since his arrest early this week, Assange thanked his supporters for helping to raise the bail. He said his lawyers waged a "brave and ultimately successful fight... in the face of great difficulty and diversion" to free him.

"It's great to smell the fresh air of London again," he said. Assange thanked the British court system, saying, "If justice is not always the outcome, at least it is not dead yet."

Assange said his time in solitary confinement gave him a chance to reflect on people being held in worse conditions around the world.

"And with that, I hope to continue my work and continue to protest my innocence in this matter," Assange said.

The judge denied an appeal against granting bail earlier today, saying he did not believe Assange would run if granted bail because that would make all his supporters look "naive, foolish and stupid."

Assange's mother was in the hearing today, along with Vaughn Smith, the man who offered Assange a place to stay in his sprawling 10-bedroom estate in England should he be freed.

Assange, who is at the center of controversy over posting more than a quarter-million secret U.S. documents online, had been held in a London prison on sexual assault charges including rape originating out of Sweden.

Several supporters offered to assist in paying Assange's bail, including documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, who pledged $20,000.

Though he is out of prison, Assange must surrender his passport and remain in the United Kingdom where he plans to stay with a friend. He will have an electronic tag to verify that he is at that address overnight and must daily report to police.

Assange had been held in solitary confinement -- for his own protection, the jail said -- in "the bottom of a Victorian prison," he said. His lawyers said he is being held in a wing normally reserved for convicted criminals, cut off from other prisoners and is only allowed a half hour a day outside the cell.