The WikiLeaks founder on Wednesday was released by a court Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, could breathe a massive sigh of relief on Wednesday after a decade-long campaign to free his son. The WikiLeaks founder on Wednesday was released by a court on the U.S.
Pacific island territory of Saipan after pleading guilty to violating U.S. espionage law.
Assange's family, including his father, children and wife, Stella, gathered in Australia's capital Canberra ahead of his expected evening arrival by private jet, marking the end of a long legal fight tied to WikiLeaks' release of hundreds of thousands of classified U.S. defence documents in 2010.
Shipton said he planned to ask his son in a low-key Australian way when he arrives: "Where have you been?" "My faith has never, ever, ever died," he told Reuters in an interview at parliament. "That Julian can come home to Australia and see his family regularly and do the ordinary things of life is a treasure. Life measured amongst the beauty of the ordinary is the essence of life," Shipton said.
He said he was "divided in two" on the deal that saw Assange plead guilty to one charge of espionage, saying his release meant he would have precious time with his sons. He was nonetheless concerned about the "political and legal circumstances surrounding it". "I think it is going to be a problem for journalists and publishers anywhere in the world to publish criticism of the United States government," he said.
Assange's release was cause fo.
