Julian Assange: Stella Assange says WikiLeaks founder needs time to ‘let our family be a family’ before speaking publicly – as it happened

WikiLeaks has shared an image of what appears to be Julian Assange hugging his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, with Australia’s ambassador to the US and former prime minister, Kevin Rudd, in the background.

Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese says that the US ambassador, Kevin Rudd, and UK high commissioner, Stephen Smith, are travelling to Australia with Assange.

The pair were with him in court today to provide support.

Albanese told the Australian parliament:

I thank them for their work and others at the respective embassy and high commission for helping us reach this conclusion. This work has been complex and it has been considered …

I am very pleased that on this occasion, this has been a successful outcome that I believe overwhelmingly Australians did want to see – as I said, they will have different views about the engagement and the activities of Mr Assange – but they will be pleased that this saga has been brought to an end and he will be able to reunite with his family.

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The Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese is currently addressing the parliament following the outcome of the Julian Assange case. He says:

Regardless of your views about his activities – and they will be varied – Mr Assange’s case has dragged on for too long. I have said repeatedly that there was nothing to be gained by his continued incarceration. I am pleased that he is on his way home to Australia to reunite with his family here.

Over the two years since we took office my government has engaged and advocated, including at leader level, to resolve this. We have used all appropriate channels [and] this outcome has been the product of careful, patient and determined work.

The Australian government continues to provide consular assistance to Mr Assange as he returns home.

WikiLeaks says it will hold a press conference in Canberra, Australia later tonight.

In a post to X, it said the press conference will be held at 9.15pm local time, in Kingston, ACT. (This is about seven hours from now).

WikiLeaks has not specified who will front the press conference, but Julian Assange is currently en route to Canberra and is due to arrive later tonight.

The US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, has issued this statement following the outcome of the Assange case:

The return of Julian Assange to Australia brings this longstanding and difficult case to a close. The United States is grateful to the government of Australia for their commitment and assistance throughout this process.

Australian independent MP Andrew Wilkie also said that today’s outcome has set an “alarming precedent” – the “charging and conviction of a journalist for doing their job”.

He told reporters that this is “the sort of thing we would expect in an authoritarian or totalitarian country, [not] from the United States or a similar country like Australia.”

I think it sends a chill down the spine of journalists worldwide that this precedent has been set, and it means that there is more work to do to push for media freedom and protections for journalists so that they can do their job.

Australian co-chair of parliamentary support group for Assange welcomes outcome

Earlier, Australian independent MP Andrew Wilkie addressed the media about his years of advocacy for Julian Assange.

Wilkie is co-chair of the Australian parliamentary group in support of Assange, and has twice travelled to London to support him.

He successfully introduced a motion to the Australian parliament in February – which received 86 votes in favour and 42 against – urging the US and UK to allow Assange to return home.

Here is what Wilkie had to say:

For many years, a series of Australian governments were either disinterested in Julian Assange or downright hostile. It is pleasing that this government was the government, finally, that listened to the community and took up the challenge and did a lot, a real lot, of difficult, quiet, behind-the-scenes work with foreign governments to bring about today.

I would also like to acknowledge the millions of people, right around the world, who have rallied for Julian for years – for the years that he had been at Belmarsh prison and the seven years in Ecuadorian embassy before that. Today is their day as much as it is … any politicians in this country. I acknowledge them.

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In case you’re just joining us, here is what Assange’s US lawyer Barry Pollack had to say outside court in Saipan following today’s hearing:

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Pollack said Assange “cannot and should not be silenced” and that his prosecution “has a chilling effect”.

Peter Greste: Assange will face ‘very, very difficult transition’ back into life after imprisonment

Australian journalist and former Al Jazeera correspondent Peter Greste, who spent 13 months in an Egyptian jail, predicts Julian Assange will face a “very, very difficult transition” back into normal life.

Greste spoke with ABC News earlier, and reflected on his own time in prison:

I think [Assange is] going to be feeling really quite discombobulated. There’s a mix of joy and elation. A certain degree of disconnection. I only spent 400 days in prison, Julian has spent closer to 13 years. His experience has been far more odious than anything I went through.

But I also know just how strange it was to go from incarceration, which is designed to mess with your head, fundamentally it’s a form of psychological torture, and so you can’t go through that experience – particularly with the degree of uncertainty that Julian has experienced in this whole ordeal – and then come out the other side and just pop straight back into normal life as if nothing had happened. It’s going to be a very, very difficult transition for him.

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Australian independent politicians welcome outcome of Assange case

Some of Australia’s independent politicians have reacted to the outcome of the Julian Assange case, welcoming him home as he is en route to Canberra – the nation’s capital.

The member for Goldstein, Zoe Daniel, wrote on X that Assange was “Free at last!”.

A 14-year ordeal for Julian Assange for revealing the truth is finally over. Welcome home Julian.

Meanwhile the member for Indi, Helen Haines, wrote:

Like the many people who have written to me in support of Julian, I have long called for an end to his incarceration and to bring him home to Australia.

Julian’s family have been steadfast in their advocacy for him. This day is as much for them as it is for Julian.

The Wentworth MP, Allegra Spender, also weighed in, stating that “whatever your view, this case dragged on too long”.

I welcome the release of Julian Assange … Journalism and publishing must not be criminalised. Julian Assange has spent far too long in prison. His crime was publishing truthful information in the public interest.