Guwahati: Julian Assange has returned to X after years of limited activity on his personal account, posting on Friday that it had last been used by his defence campaign in 2018.

“8 years, polymarket. last tweet 2018. account then run by my defense campaign as @DefendAssange,” Assange wrote on X.

His post came a few hours after he shared a photograph from Sydney with the words “I’m back”. His return was first announced through the WikiLeaks account, which posted a photograph of Assange standing beneath a large artwork depicting him on Sydney’s George Street.

Assange’s personal account had remained largely inactive during the period surrounding his release from prison. His last post before the latest return was on June 28, 2024, when he shared material related to his plea agreement with US authorities.

He was released from London’s Belmarsh prison in June 2024 after reaching a plea agreement with the US Department of Justice, ending a prolonged legal battle over his extradition to the United States.

Under the agreement, Assange pleaded guilty on the Pacific island of Saipan to one count of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disclose classified US national defence information. He was sentenced to 62 months in prison, with the sentence treated as time already served.

Assange returned to Australia after his release, arriving in Canberra on June 26, 2024.

Before his imprisonment, Assange had spent nearly seven years inside Ecuador’s embassy in London after seeking asylum there in 2012. British police arrested him in April 2019 after Ecuador withdrew his asylum. He was subsequently held at Belmarsh while challenging the US extradition request.

Assange became internationally known through WikiLeaks, which published large volumes of classified US military and diplomatic material. His case became a major international dispute involving press freedom, national security and the publication of classified information.

His latest posts mark his renewed activity on X, where his account had previously been used extensively during the campaign surrounding his legal case.