Julian Assange touches down in Australia to reunite with kids who have only known him as a prisoner: ‘He needs to recuperate’

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was reunited with his family after touching down in his native Australia on Wednesday — just hours after pleading guilty to publishing US military secrets in a deal that sets him free after a 14-year legal saga.

Assange, 52, raised his fist as he stepped off a private jet at Canberra airport just after 5:30 a.m. ET (7:30 p.m. local time) before he was spotted passionately embracing his wife, Stella, and lifting her off the ground.

Speaking at a press conference just hours after his arrival, Assange’s wife choked up as she said he “needs time” to recuperate and reunite with their two young kids, ages 4 and 2, who have only ever known him as a prisoner.

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“I ask you, please, to give us space, to give us privacy, to find our place. To let our family be a family before he can speak again at a time of his choosing,” Stella told reporters.

“Julian wanted me to sincerely thank everyone. He wanted to be here, but you have to understand what he’s been through. He needs time. He needs to recuperate. And this is a process.”

Assange’s arrival ends a lengthy saga in which he spent more than five years in a British high-security jail, as well as seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, as he battled extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations, and to the US, where he faced 18 criminal charges.

The charges stemmed from WikiLeaks’ release in 2010 of hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq — one of the largest breaches of secret information in American history.

The criminal case came to a surprise end when Assange entered his plea in a US District Court in Saipan — the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands — earlier Wednesday and then hightailed it back to Australia.

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After touching down in the country’s capital, the first person the freed prisoner spoke to via phone was Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson said.

“We are absolutely thrilled that Julian is now home in Australia,” Robinson told reporters.

“I can say when we landed here in Australia, I became very emotional at the moment that we landed and the prime minister was the first person to get on the phone to speak to Julian.

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“Julian thanked him and the team and told the prime minister that he had saved his life. And I don’t think that that is an exaggeration,” she added.

Earlier, Albanese — who has lobbied for years to free Assange — described their phone call as a “very warm discussion.”

“He was very generous in his praise of the Australian government’s efforts,” the PM said. “The Australian government stands up for Australian citizens, that’s what we do.”

Assange had earlier copped to one felony charge of violating the Espionage Act during the three-hour court hearing in Saipan as part of his plea deal with Justice Department prosecutors.

“Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified in order to publish that information,” Assange told the court.

“I believed the First Amendment protected that activity but I accept that it was … a violation of the espionage statute.”

Chief US District Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted his guilty plea and released him due to time already served in a British jail.

With Post wires

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