In short: Julian Assange has spent his first evening home in Australia as a free man.
His family and legal team say their reunion on home soil was an overwhelming moment.
What's next? Assange will now live in Australia without restriction, ending a decade-long diplomatic drama.
Julian Assange is standing on Australian soil, having spent his first night in his home country in nearly 15 years.
His lawyer Jen Robinson, filled with emotion as she addressed a rowdy media pack in Canberra, said Assange's return home had "saved his life".
Stella Assange, human rights activist, Julian's wife, and the mother of their two children, said she could not describe the moment when he rushed from the plane, across the tarmac, and into her arms.
"I was overcome by emotion when I first heard there were crowds cheering, that I didn't even know were there," Ms Assange said, recounting their reunion.
"We embraced, and I think you've seen the pictures. I don't want to express in words what is obvious from the image."
On social media, she offered one simple word next to the photo of their embrace: "home".
Assange team celebrates, but say Julian needs time to recover
Assange has been a fugitive since his organisation WikiLeaks published classified United States military footage it alleged showed the killing of Iraqi civilians and two Reuters journalists by US forces.
For seven years he was holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, dodging an extradition order to the US over the leaks, until 2019 when police entered the embassy and detained Assange, placing him in jail where he remained until just days ago.
Since 2012 he has fought attempted extraditions and later charges of violating the US Espionage Act — which carried a maximum penalty of 175 years' prison.
Yesterday, he finally settled a plea deal with the US, pleading guilty to one charge of conspiracy to commit espionage in return for a "time already served" sentence.
Ms Assange told media he was grateful to all who had supported him, but he was tired, and asked the family be given privacy.
"Julian needs time to recover, to get used to freedom," Ms Assange said.
"Freedom comes slowly, and I want Julian to have that space to rediscover freedom slowly, and quickly."
Stella Assange speaks to media at East Hotel Kingston after Julian Assange's arrival to Australia, June 26 2024.(ABC News: Matthew Doran)
Assange to seek pardon from US President Joe Biden
As Assange stepped onto the tarmac, a triumphant Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stood up at parliament house, where he said he had just spoken with Assange and welcomed him home.
"I am very pleased that this saga is over. And earlier tonight, I was pleased to speak with Mr Assange, to welcome him home, and had the opportunity to ask about his health and to have my first discussion with him," Mr Albanese said.
Assange's long-time lawyer Jen Robinson claimed his return as a win for Australian democracy and free speech.
"This is a huge win for Australia, that our prime minister stood up to our ally, the United States, and demanded the return of an Australian citizen," Ms Robinson said.
"That Julian came home today is the product of 14 long years of legal battles, political advocacy and ongoing campaigning — not just by us, but by so many people in this community."
Julian Assange's lawyer Jen Robinson, speaking to media in Canberra after his arrival home, June 26 2024.
But even as she celebrated, Ms Robinson said Assange's guilty plea set a dark precedent for the press.
His team has always maintained that the publication of US intelligence was an act of journalism in the public interest, revealing alleged war crimes, and Assange should not have been punished for it.
A brief history of Julian Assange
Julian Assange's plea deal marks a new chapter in a long-running saga that saw a Townsville kid take on the United States Department of Justice.
Stella Assange said her husband's case was a warning for the press.
"I hope journalists and editors and publishers everywhere realise the danger of this US case against Julian that criminalises [and] that has secured a conviction for news-gathering and publishing. Information that was in the public interest," Ms Assange said.
"[But] today, we celebrate Julian's freedom."
Assange has also indicated his intention to seek a personal pardon from US President Joe Biden.
Coalition says Assange should not receive hero's welcome
The Albanese government is left treading a delicate diplomatic situation: on one hand celebrating a successful end to a diplomatic saga that has loomed over US relations with six Australian governments; on the other, being careful not to upset A US government that has made significant concessions in its pursuit of Assange.
And Assange remains a divisive figure, lauded by some as a champion of free speech and of journalism, and derided by others as a criminal evading justice.
The Opposition's Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson yesterday sided with the latter view, saying Assange was "no hero" — but agreed the end of the diplomatic saga and his return to Australia was a welcome thing.
"The reason why it's gone on for a long time is that he was evading lawful extradition requests," he told Sky News.
"It is a credit to the United States that they are showing such leniency towards someone accused of such a serious crime."
Shortly after Mr Albanese's tarmac phone call with Assange, Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham took to social media to say Assange should not be receiving the prime minister's welcome.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has a phone call with Julian Assange as he lands in Australia.(Twitter: Anthony Albanese)
"This call is neither necessary nor appropriate. Julian Assange was not wrongfully detained like Cheng Lei, Sean Turnell or Kylie Moore-Gilbert. For 12 years Assange chose to avoid facing justice in countries with fair judicial systems. He is undeserving of this treatment," Senator Birmingham wrote.
Earlier, Mr Albanese said people would have different views of Assange, but Australians would be "pleased" that a long saga was brought to an end, and that Assange had been reunited with his family.
In a signal of the Albanese government's limits with Assange, it stopped short of paying the bill for his return, with WikiLeaks saying the chartered flight to bring him home had cost about $US520,000 ($778,000).
A crowdfunding effort had raised more than $700,000 within hours of Assange boarding his flight home.
Assange's legal team say he is now a free man, and free to build his life in Australia with his family however he pleases.
Julian Assange is now in Australia a free man
The joy of Australians was palpable, even with smiles on the faces of people on Australian state media.
However, the hypocrisy of the Australian government is palpable as they jail their own whistleblowers for revealing Austrlalian crimes in Afghanistan
Former Australian Army lawyer David McBride has been sentenced to five years and eight months for revealing information about alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
Supporters of McBride have long expressed his concern that the Australian government was more interested in punishing him for revealing information about war crimes rather than the alleged perpetrators.
These are the images the world has been waiting for (with the exception of all Neocons, Liberal interventionists, natsec hawks, and Killary types...). "Free at last," WikiLeaks said in a post on X, upon Julian Assange emerging rom his plane after landing in the Australian capital of Canberra.
Assange raised his fist on the tarmac, and lovingly embraced his wife Stella and his children and family. His guilty plea arrangement with the United States was a success.
During the Wednesday morning stopover and court appearance in a US district court in Saipan, the 52-year old Assange formally pleaded guilty to obtaining and publishing US military secrets.
One of Assange’s lawyers, Jennifer Robinson, said after the hearing that the whole ordeal "sets a dangerous precedent that should be a concern to journalists everywhere."
During the hearing he appeared emotional and there were moments of humor and laughter in interaction with the judge and with the court, according to The Guardian. For example, when the judge questioned whether satisfied with the plea conditions, Assange responded: "It might depend on the outcome." This immediately drew some laughter in the courtroom.
Chief Judge Ramona Manglona said at the start: "Not many people recognize we are part of the United States, but that is true." By the end she pronounced: "It appears this case ends with me" and followed with "I hope there will be some peace restored."
The moment he walked out of the courtroom a free man:
— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 26, 2024
Crucially, the judge said something which marks a significant blow to Assange's and WikiLeaks' detractors, who have long maintained that the leaks - particularly the Iraq and Afghan war logs - put intelligence officers and foreign assets in danger and may have gotten some killed.
Manglona explained that key to the deal for his freedom was that he already served years in a notorious and harsh UK prison, but also that no actual physical harm was actually caused due to Assange’s actions.
"You stand before me to be sentenced in this criminal action," the judge said. "I would note the following: Timing matters. If this case was brought before me some time near 2012, without the benefit of what I know now, that you served a period of imprisonment... in apparently one of the harshest facilities in the United Kingdom."
With his attorney after being pronounced by the US federal judge a free man...
Below: Returning home to Australia, where Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's role in securing his freedom was key. WikiLeaks and Assange's family have thanked the Australian PM.
The Australian parliament had also begun publicly lobbying for Assange's freedom starting months ago, and this was also essential in building pressure with the Biden administration.
"There’s another significant fact – the government has indicated there is no personal victim here. That tells me the dissemination of this information did not result in any known physical injury," the judge continued.
"These two facts are very relevant. I would say if this was still unknown and closer to [2012] I would not be so inclined to accept this plea agreement before me," Manglona added. "But it’s the year 2024."
Former intelligence officials and national security pundits have been livid and disappointed over the plea deal, claiming Assange's leaks got people killed and harmed US operations abroad.
"I can’t stop crying," his wife, Stella, wrote on X soon after.
Importantly, as a condition of the plea WikiLeaks is required to destroy information pertaining to US state secrets that was provided to Assange and his team. While the WikiLeaks site is a large repository of world-wide leaks on various governments, it appears that sections devoted to classified US documents have now been removed.
Upon Assange's celebratory landing in Australia, his wife Stella said in a press conference that he "just arrived in Australia after being in a high-security prison for over five years and [on] a 72-hour flight."
She said it would be "premature" for Julian to address the press and that he "has to recover". She then declared: "The fact is that Julian will always defend human rights, will always defend victims - that's just part of who he is."
"I hope journalists and editors and publishers everywhere realize the danger of the US case against Julian that criminalizes, that has secured a conviction for, newsgathering and publishing information that was true, that the public deserved to know," she continued in the press conference.
"That precedent now can and will be used in the future against the rest of the press. So it is in the interest of all of the press to seek for this current state of affairs to change through reform of the Espionage Act," said Stella Assange. "Through increased press protections, and yes, eventually when the time comes - not today - a pardon."
In an anonymous effort to help secure Julian Assange's freedom, an anonymous Bitcoiner donated over 8 Bitcoin, worth around $500,000, to help Assange’s family pay off the debt incurred by his charter jet and settlement expenses, CoinTelegraph reported.
On June 24, Assange was released from the high-security Belmarsh prison in the United Kingdom after reaching a plea agreement with U.S. authorities. Shortly after his release, he departed the U.K. on a private plane from a London airport to Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory.
Assange appeared in a district court in Saipan on June 26, where he pleaded guilty to one charge of breaching the U.S. Espionage Act by leaking classified documents. The journey was planned to prevent Assange from touching foot on American soil.
In an interview, Stella Assange, Assange’s wife, stated that “freedom comes at a cost.” Assange is required to pay $520,000 to the Australian government for the “forced” chartering of flight VJ199 to travel to Saipan and Australia. Stella started a crowdfunding page to help the jailed founder with his debts after his return home to Australia.
The donation link was posted by Stella Assange on June 25, and within 10 hours, an anonymous Bitcoiner paid over 8 Bitcoin to the fund, almost clearing the goal of $520,000. He has also received over 300,000 British pounds ($380,000) in fiat donations so far.
The single Bitcoin donation was the largest donation to the fund, more than all other donations in all currencies combined. As a result, Assange will arrive in Australia debt free.
The WikiLeaks co-founder didn’t just have his case dropped – it does not bode well for the future of truth-telling
Robert Bridge
Julian Assange, the co-founder of WikiLeaks, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act for his role in collecting and publishing top-secret military and diplomatic documents from 2009 to 2011. What does this verdict mean for media freedom around the world?
While it’s certainly positive news that the US Department of Justice is apparently closing the book on the tragic Assange saga, it’s shocking that the administration of President Joe Biden demanded a guilty plea for the alleged crime of obtaining and publishing government secrets. After all, this is the crucial task that investigative journalists perform on a regular basis.
“The plea deal won’t have the precedential effect of a court ruling, but it will still hang over the heads of national security reporters for years to come… It’s purely symbolic,” Seth Stern, the director of advocacy for Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), said in a statement. “The administration could’ve easily just dropped the case but chose to instead legitimize the criminalization of routine journalistic conduct and encourage future administrations to follow suit.”
Assange rose to international fame in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 on the grounds of political persecution and fears he might be extradited by the UK to the US. He remained in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London until April 2019, and then was imprisoned in Belmarsh Prison until June 2024, as the US government’s extradition effort was contested in the British courts.
While a plea deal would avoid the worst-case scenario for media liberties, it cannot be ignored that Assange was incarcerated for five years for activities that journalists engage in every day. There is good reason why the US waged a massive smear campaign against Assange, who was blessed with courage rarely seen in journalism.
As the late journalist John Pilger wrote of his beleaguered colleague, who viewed his work as a moral duty: “Assange shamed his persecutors. He produced scoop after scoop. He exposed the fraudulence of wars promoted by the media and the homicidal nature of America’s wars, the corruption of dictators, the evils of Guantanamo.”
The question that must be asked now is: How long can Julian Assange continue with his crusade on behalf of truth? The sole purpose for WikiLeaks is the pursuit of justice. It is about achieving justice by letting the public know what is going on, letting the average person on the street know what those who have power over their lives are conspiring to do. To say this seldom-seen method of journalism is a courageous act is the greatest understatement.
Case in point was the murder of 27-year-old Seth Rich, a former member of the Democratic National Committee who was shot and killed on the street in Washington, DC on July 10, 2016, just weeks before the presidential election between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. In an interview with the Dutch news program Nieuwsuur, Assange insinuates that Rich was responsible for the leak of DNC emails to WikiLeaks, not the Russians, as the entire US media complex had been reporting.
“There’s a 27-year-old, he works for the DNC, who was shot in the back, murdered, just a few weeks ago for unknown reasons as he was walking down the street in Washington,” Assange said. “I am suggesting that our sources take risks and they become concerned to see things occurring like that… We have to understand how high the stakes are in the United States and our sources take serious risks and that’s why they come to us so we can protect their anonymity.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, he was asked: “So in other words, let me be clear... Russia did not give you the Podesta documents or anything from the DNC?”
“That’s correct,” Assange responded.
To better appreciate the severity of the leak, the information found in the emails caused major harm to the Clinton campaign, and has been cited as a potential contributing factor to her loss in the general election against Trump.
It’s worth pondering at this point in Assange’s life whether he will continue fighting the powers that be, or take a long and much-needed vacation from the dangerous world of truth-telling.
Time will tell, but I’ve got a hunch that Julian Assange has only just begun to fight.
And there is this that I regard as rumours for now
All 20,000 emails from the Democrat National Committee, (DNC) were DELETED off Wikileaks servers
I have seen other reports of this on social media:
Today, all 20,000 emails from the Democrat National Committee, (DNC) were DELETED off Wikileaks servers; presumably as part of the Julian Assange plea bargain!
Julian Assange was instructed to direct WikiLeaks to destroy any remaining classified documents and information in their possession and provide an affidavit once completed, as part of his plea agreement
Thank you, Robin, for your excellent coverage of this story, and your comments. Praying for a speedy recovery for Julian, and that he stays free and safe.
Thank you, Robin, for your excellent coverage of this story, and your comments. Praying for a speedy recovery for Julian, and that he stays free and safe.