CANBERRA: Australia’s prime minister said Wednesday he was “very pleased” by the plea deal that ended WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s long legal “saga”.
Assange is on a flight home to Australia after spending more than five years in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison fighting extradition to the United States for revealing US state secrets.
“I am very pleased that on this occasion, this has been a successful outcome that I believe overwhelmingly Australians did want to see,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told parliament in Canberra.
“They will have different views about the engagement and the activities of Mr Assange but they will be pleased that the saga has been brought to an end and that he will be able to reunite with his family.”
Under the plea agreement, the 52-year-old Australian citizen pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate defence information and was sentenced to time already served.
The legal drama unfolded in a courtroom in the Northern Mariana Islands, a Pacific US territory.
Albanese said the resolution of Assange’s case was the result of “careful, patient and determined work – work I am very proud of”.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange heads to Australia after US guilty plea
“I have said repeatedly that there was nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration, and I am pleased that he is on his way home to Australia,” he said.
“Regardless of your views about his activities, and they will be varied, Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long.”
The prime minister confirmed that the Australian ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd, and Australia’s high commissioner to the UK, Stephen Smith, were both accompanying Assange on his flight home.
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