Assange Arrives in Australia, Ending Exile After Guilty Plea
- Wikileaks founder free after leaving US court on Wednesday
- Assange lawyer says deal only became possible in recent weeks
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Julian Assange landed in Australia for the first time in more than a decade, following a guilty plea in a US court that allowed him to return to his home country a free man after serving time in a UK prison and holing up in an Ecuadorian embassy.
Assange touched down in the capital city of Canberra on Wednesday evening after flying from the Northern Mariana Islands. He arrived in the US territory earlier to appear before a federal court, where he pleaded guilty to unlawfully obtaining and disclosing “classified documents relating to the national defense,” according to a statement from the US Justice Department.