WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is finally a free man, reuniting with his family in Australia last week after pleading guilty to violating US espionage law. He arrived by private jet at Canberra airport where his wife Stella Assange, members of the media and supporters awaited him as they cheered on in their droves, Reuters reported. Assange, who has been embroiled in a 14-year legal battle for his freedom, is considered by some a journalistic hero for exposing abuses by US armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan on his WikiLeaks platform.
In 2010, WikiLeaks released footage of US soldiers shooting dead Iraqi civilians and two Reuters staffers in Baghdad, which caused public outrage against the US government. {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson (left) and lawyer Stella Assange (right), wife of Julian Assange, walk outside the High Court in London during WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange’s extradition appeal in May.
Photo: EPA-EFE","url":"https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/02/0f190dcd-40fc-4569-85fa-d33753cad28b_01b20c70.
jpg"} WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson (left) and lawyer Stella Assange (right), wife of Julian Assange, walk outside the High Court in London during WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange’s extradition appeal in May. Photo: EPA-EFE His arrival in Australia follows more than five years in a British high-security jail and seven years in asylu.
