Australia welcomes free Julian Assange home

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has landed back home in Australia, a free man for the first time in 12 years, after a US judge signed off on his unexpected plea deal on Wednesday morning.

Cheers erupted from supporters gathered at Canberra Airport in the Australian capital as Assange disembarked the aircraft. He waved to the crowds as he walked across the tarmac.

Julian Assange stepped out of his chartered airplane and paused for a moment, taking a breath of chilly Canberra evening air. Then the Australian founder of WikiLeaks raised his fist triumphantly and stepped onto home soil for the first time in more than a decade, waving to his supporters as he crossed the tarmac before at last embracing his wife as a free man, reports Washington Post.

Australians had waited for his arrival with a mixture of joy and relief on Wednesday as politicians across party lines welcomed what they said was his long-overdue release and as Assange’s ardent supporters celebrated his freedom.

Earlier, a small crowd had gathered outside the U.S. Consulate in Sydney, drinking champagne from plastic cups and holding signs featuring Assange, who was free after pleading guilty to one U.S. charge of violating the Espionage Act and being sentenced to time served.

But none were happier than Assange’s relatives, many of whom have not seen the WikiLeaks founder in almost 15 years. Assange’s father, John Shipton, told local media he was “doing cartwheels” of joy, while his mother, Christine Assange, said the saga had “taken a toll on me as a mother.”

Assange’s wife, Stella, and their two sons, ages 5 and 7, also traveled here from their home in London — the boys unaware that they were about to see their father outside a prison for the first time.

The deal was the result of two years of behind-the-scenes exhortations from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who had privately and publicly urged President Biden to allow Assange’s release.

“This is not something that has happened in the last 24 hours. This is something that has been considered, patient, worked through in a calibrated way, which is how Australia conducts ourselves internationally,” Albanese said Wednesday.

“I have been very clear as both the Labor leader and … as prime minister that regardless of the views people have about Assange’s activities, the case has dragged on for too long. There is nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration, and we want him brought home to Australia,” he added.