WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has arrived back in his native Australia after striking a plea deal with a US court to allow him to walk free, bringing an end to a 14-year legal battle.
He landed in Canberra on a six-hour flight from the island of Saipan, an American territory in the Pacific.
The 52-year-old already served 62 months in jail but was freed after pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.
This was after the US dropped 17 other espionage charges against him.
Under the agreement, a judge sentenced him to time already served in Belmarsh Prison, where he had spent five years fighting US extradition attempts, and wished him an “early happy birthday” ahead of his 53rd birthday next week.
US prosecutors sought Assange over allegations that he broke the law and endangered national security through the WikiLeaks website he founded in 2006. In a three-hour hearing on the US Pacific island territory of Saipan before flying to Australia, Assange pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national defense documents but argued that he believed the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, protecting free speech, covered his actions.
“Working as a journalist I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information,” he told the court.
“I believed the First Amendment protected that activity but I accept that it was … a violation of the espionage statute.”
On Wednesday, after arriving in the Australian capital, he is expected to hold a press conference at a hotel at 12.15pm, UK time.
Ahead of his flight landing, Australia’s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said he was “pleased” for Assange.
“This is what is standing up for Australians around the world look like,” Mr Albanese said.
“It means getting the job done, getting results and getting outcomes. Having the determination to stay the course and I am very pleased that on this occasion, this has been a successful outcome that I believe overwhelmingly Australians did want to see.”
Assange is reunited with his wife Stella Assange and the couple’s two young sons, Gabriel and Max. Speaking to the Assange campaign’s live stream on YouTube before his arrival, she said she was “elated, excited, exhausted”.
“I can’t get my head around it,” she said of her husband’s release. “It’s like I’m having an out of body experience.”
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Credit – Independent UK