02:05The plane carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange touched down in Canberra on Wednesday, following his landmark plea deal hearing with the US in Saipan.
Footage shows the plane taxiing before Assange and others disembarked. He can be seen waving towards reporters and hugging his loved ones.
Earlier, at the US district courthouse in the Northern Mariana Islands, Assange entered a 'guilty' plea to a single charge of espionage. While the offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of time served, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
According to media reports, she also wished Assange a 'happy early birthday' and said he was a 'free man'. The US side confirmed that it was withdrawing the UK extradition request.
The WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh on Monday evening after reaching the plea deal, boarding a plane at London's Stansted Airport.
The hearing's location in Saipan - the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth - was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and his own opposition to travelling to the United States.
He had been detained in the London prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.
Home at last! Assange touches down in Canberra after securing freedom in US plea deal
The plane carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange touched down in Canberra on Wednesday, following his landmark plea deal hearing with the US in Saipan.
Footage shows the plane taxiing before Assange and others disembarked. He can be seen waving towards reporters and hugging his loved ones.
Earlier, at the US district courthouse in the Northern Mariana Islands, Assange entered a 'guilty' plea to a single charge of espionage. While the offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of time served, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
According to media reports, she also wished Assange a 'happy early birthday' and said he was a 'free man'. The US side confirmed that it was withdrawing the UK extradition request.
The WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh on Monday evening after reaching the plea deal, boarding a plane at London's Stansted Airport.
The hearing's location in Saipan - the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth - was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and his own opposition to travelling to the United States.
He had been detained in the London prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.
The plane carrying WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange touched down in Canberra on Wednesday, following his landmark plea deal hearing with the US in Saipan.
Footage shows the plane taxiing before Assange and others disembarked. He can be seen waving towards reporters and hugging his loved ones.
Earlier, at the US district courthouse in the Northern Mariana Islands, Assange entered a 'guilty' plea to a single charge of espionage. While the offence carried up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, Judge Ramona Manglona accepted the plea agreement and imposed a sentence of time served, amounting to the 62 months he spent in the UK's Belmarsh prison.
According to media reports, she also wished Assange a 'happy early birthday' and said he was a 'free man'. The US side confirmed that it was withdrawing the UK extradition request.
The WikiLeaks founder left Belmarsh on Monday evening after reaching the plea deal, boarding a plane at London's Stansted Airport.
The hearing's location in Saipan - the largest of the Northern Mariana Islands, a US commonwealth - was reportedly due to its proximity to Australia and his own opposition to travelling to the United States.
He had been detained in the London prison since 2019, and fought a long-running extradition battle with the US over 18 charges related to the release of classified documents involving the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
He was initially granted political asylum by Ecuador in the British capital in 2012 but was dragged from the embassy by UK police seven years later.