Melbourne, July 27 (RHC)-- Stella Assange, the wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, recently shared a rare glimpse into his post-prison life by releasing a candid family photo on social media.  The photo, simply captioned "Family photo!", shows a smiling Assange with their young sons, Gabriel and Max. Although the exact location was not specified, local media suggested it was somewhere in Australia, Assange's native country.

Since his return to Australia in June, following a deal that ended his 14-year legal battle with the US Department of Justice, Assange has largely avoided the public eye.

Stella, who married Assange during his time at London's Belmarsh prison, had previously mentioned his plans to use his freedom by "swimming in the ocean every day", sleeping in a real bed, tasting real food, and enjoying his liberty.

Prior to this recent photo, Stella had shared another image on July 3rd, Assange's birthday, depicting the couple in a forested area with the caption: "Free!"
  
Julian Assange had spent over five years in Belmarsh fighting extradition to the United States on charges under the 1917 Espionage Act, following a seven-year stay in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault charges, which were eventually dropped.

Assange gained notoriety for publishing hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents on the WikiLeaks whistleblowing website from 2010 onward. 

In a plea deal, Assange pled guilty on a U.S. Pacific island court to a single count of revealing military secrets.  He was sentenced to time already served and allowed to walk free.  However, the U.S. Justice Department has prohibited Assange from returning to the United States without permission.

Observers quipped: Why would Julian Assange want to go to the United States, anyway?