Julian Assange will push ahead with attempts to pardon his conviction for espionage but needs time and space to recover following his 14-year legal saga, his wife has said.
Stella Assange addressed a press conference around an hour after the WikiLeaks founder touched down in Canberra as a free man following a plea agreement.
Mr Assange had been wanted by US authorities following the disclosure of thousands of classified military documents in 2010 and spent more than five years in a British high-security prison after seven years holed up at the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
It's been a criminal case of international intrigue that went on for 14 years as he spent years holed up in an embassy and then a high-security prison, reports Mark Duell.
But a long-awaited plea deal means Julian Assange has now arrived in his native Australia to be reunited with his family and start a new life as a free man.
The deal to secure the WikiLeaks founder's liberty has been in the making since at least March but really began in Canberra with a change of government in 2022.
Ms Assange has said she wants to allow her husband space to rediscover freedom following his incarceration.
Asking for privacy as a family, she told the press conference:
Julian needs time to recover. To get used to freedoms. Someone told me yesterday who had been through something similar, that freedom comes slowly. And I want Julian to have that space to rediscover freedom, slowly. And quickly.She also told reporters her reaction to seeing her husband at the airfield in Canberra where they shared an emotional embrace.
We embraced and I mean, I think you've seen the pictures. I don't want to express in words what is obvious from the image.Ms Assange has reiterated the case against her husband is an 'attack on journalism' as she gave details of how he came to be released.
She told the press conference:
I think it's important to recognise that Julian's release and the breakthrough in the negotiations came at a time when there had been a breakthrough in the legal case in the UK, in the extradition, where the High Court had allowed permission to appeal.Ms. Jennifer Robinson, Assange's lawyer has revealed that he told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese he had 'saved his life' when he landed back in Australia.
There was a court date set for the 9th and 10th of July - an upcoming court date in which Julian would be able to raise the first amendment argument at the High Court. And it is in this context that things finally started to move.
I think that it revealed ... how uncomfortable United States government is, in fact, of having these arguments aired, because this case - the fact is that this case is an attack on journalism.
She told the press conference:
We are absolutely thrilled that Julian is now home in Australia.Eight hours earlier Assange walked free from a US federal court on the Pacific island of Saipan without probation or supervision, but he is banned from ever entering the US again without permission from American authorities.
I can say when we landed here in Australia, I became very emotional at the moment that we landed and the Prime Minister was the first person to get on the phone to speak to Julian.
Julian thanked him and the team and told the Prime Minister that he had saved his life. And I don't think that that is an exaggeration.
Judge Ramona V Manglona told Assange after wrapping up the case: 'With that... Mr Assange it's apparently an early happy birthday to you. I hope you will start your new life in a positive manner.'
Shortly before her husband landed in Canberra, Mrs Assange revealed that he wants to swim in the ocean every day and teach their children to catch crabs now that he is back in Australia.
Julian Assange's brother has said he will campaign for the WikiLeaks founder to be pardoned after he was convicted of espionage in a US court.
The conviction means Mr Assange is banned from entering the US and would require special permission for visits
Gabriel Shipton told the BBC:
We're going to campaign now for a pardon for Julian. We're going to be asking President Biden for a pardon, so that this conviction can be taken off the books.
You know our allies in the Congress, Representative Jim McGovern has already tweeted out that this is a very very concerning precedent for people in the United States.
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