‘Magnificent’: Julian Assange’s Family Welcomes His Return to Australia

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the United States Courthouse in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands on June 26, 2024. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

John Shipton, the father of Julian Assange, says he looks forward to embracing his son for the first time in 15 years after the WikiLeaks founder was freed from a UK prison.

Mr. Assange has agreed to a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors and in return, will avoid extradition to the mainland United States and be allowed to Australia.

The Australian citizen will not be required to serve further jail time after spending five years imprisoned.

Mr. Assange has fought extradition to the United States for over 10 years. Without the plea deal, he would have faced 175 years in prison.

Meanwhile, the Wikileaks founder’s family was eager to see him return home, with his father, Mr. Shipton, saying he was grateful to the public for their support.

“I’m so proud of them,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on June 26.

“The flow of feeling from us, the people, into the government was manifested. The government solved the problem that we felt existed. I think it’s pretty magnificent.”

Mr. Assange’s wife, Stella Assange, also expressed gratitude to everyone who has been advocating for her husband’s release.

“Words cannot express our immense gratitude to you—yes you who have all mobilised for years and years to make this come true,” she wrote in a post on X on June 25.

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

On June 26, Mr. Assange entered a court in Saipan, a U.S. island territory in the Pacific.

He faced one charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defence documents, which had a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He was accompanied by Australia’s Ambassador to the U.S. Kevin Rudd, and Australia’s High Commissioner to the UK Stephen Smith.

Australian Politicians Voice Support For Assange

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would have more to share after the legal proceedings finish.

“Given those proceedings are happening literally in real-time, it is not appropriate to provide further commentary,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“We have engaged and advocated Australia’s interest using appropriate channels to support the positive outcome.”

Mr. Assange has support from across the political spectrum in Australia with a delegation of Labor, Liberal, National, Greens, and independent MPs flying to Washington D.C. in 2023 to advocate for his return home.

“I have been very clear as Labor leader and as prime minister that regardless of what your views about Mr. Assange’s activities, his case has dragged on for too long,” Mr. Albanese said.

“There is nothing to be gained from his continued incarceration and we want him brought home to Australia.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles believed the issue did not negatively impact the Australia-U.S. relationship.

“I have been working with the United States since we came to power on a range of issues, and I certainly wouldn’t see this as an issue that has had any bearing on the way in which we’ve maintained many of the equities that we do in our relationship with the United States,” he told ABC.

Assange Endangers US Military Security: Pence

However, former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said the plea deal was a “miscarriage of justice” that dishonoured the service of the U.S. Armed Forces.

“Julian Assange endangered the lives of our troops in a time of war and should have been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” he said on X.

“There should be no plea deals to avoid prison for anyone that endangers the security of our military or the national security of the United States. Ever.”

Alexander Downer, who served as Australian high commissioner to the UK when Mr. Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, also said that Mr. Assange published more information than just the highly-reported incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“He released a huge amount of information, much of which was very embarrassing and much of which endangered lives,” he told the BBC.

“So what he did was a criminal offence, and it was a terrible thing to do, morally as well.

“And endangering people’s lives in that way, it’s just completely inappropriate and I don’t think many Australians have sympathy for him.”