Wikileaks founder Julian Assange stepped off a private jet in Canberra, Australia late Wednesday evening local time a free man, having earlier accepted a plea agreement with an American court.
Julian Assange flew from the U.S. territory Saipan, the Northern Mariana Islands, to Australian capital city Canberra on Wednesday. His jet, which had carried him from the United Kingdom where he was released from prison on Monday, to U.S. territory to stand before a Federal Judge by way of Bangkok, finally touched down on Australian soil around 19:30 local time (10:30 BST, 0530 ET).
His family met him on the tarmac, although per his own claim, the first person to speak with Mr Assange after his aircraft landed was the Australian Prime Minister by telephone. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation states Anthony Albanese, who leads the left-wing Australian government, said Mr Assange had told him landing back in his native Australia was a “surreal and happy moment”.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange walks down the steps of the plane after arriving at Canberra Airport in Canberra on June 26, 2024, after he pleaded guilty at a US court in Saipan to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate US national defence information. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned home to Australia to start life as a free man June 26 after admitting he revealed US defence secrets in a deal that unlocked the door to his London prison cell. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP) (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange waves after arriving at Canberra Airport in Canberra on June 26, 2024, after he pleaded guilty at a US court in Saipan to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate US national defence information. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned home to Australia to start life as a free man June 26 after admitting he revealed US defence secrets in a deal that unlocked the door to his London prison cell. (Photo by WILLIAM WEST / AFP) (Photo by WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)
After leaving the aircraft, Assange raised his hands in a series of salutes and waves and made his way to the terminal at the military air base.
Assange had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to obtain and disclose national defence information, doing so as part of the plea agreement in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Island, without setting foot in the mainland United States. The agreement appears to have ended a near-14 year legal saga since Mr Assange published a large cache of intelligence documents through Wikileaks. While he argued they were in the public interest and were protected by first amendment rights, the U.S. government disagreed and has been trying to extradite him since.
During that time Assange spent time under house arrest, fought an extradition order to Sweden over allegations of rape — which he denied, and the case was later dropped — spent seven years living inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London as a political refugee, and then five years inside a British high security prison.
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