Julian Assange is set to land on Australian soil as a free man after more than a decade holed up in a British high-security jail and in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for exposing US war crimes.
His brother Gabriel Shipton spoke to 7NEWS chief reporter Chris Reason from France on Tuesday, opening up about his brother’s plans for recovery Down Under after his 14-year legal battle, which threatened another several decades in jail.
Assange agreed to plead guilty in a courtroom on US territory on the Pacific island of Saipan on Wednesday to one charge of violating US espionage law, in a deal that will allow him to return home to Australia.
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He would be sentenced to 62 months in prison, but because he already served five years in London’s Belmarsh Prison, he will be credited with that time, and released.
A judge is expected to sign off on Assange’s freedom by Wednesday, allowing him to fly to Sydney where he will be reunited with his wife Stella, and children aged five and seven.
“He’s got two small children, my nephews Max and Gabriel, they’re in Australia right now with Julian’s wife Stella, so they’ll be able to meet him when he gets off the plane,” Shipton told 7NEWS.
He said the family would “be spending time together, resting and recuperating”.
“He will need some time to recover from this ordeal, listen to the Australian birds sing, maybe go for a swim in the ocean.”
“We’re incredibly overjoyed, incredibly relieved. This has been a long slog, for Julian especially, but also for us, in this fight to get him out of the prison.”
Stella told BBC Radio on Tuesday: “It’s been so touch-and-go, we weren’t really sure until the last 24 hours that it was actually happening.”
She said she did not want to say too much before the US judge approved the deal.
“It’s just incredible. It … feels like it’s not real,” she said.
US authorities in 2019 charged Assange on 18 criminal counts of conspiring with former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to obtain classified information and unlawfully publishing the names of classified sources.
Washington said the release of documents he helped publish put lives in danger.
Assange’s supporters conversely say he is a hero who was victimised for exposing US wrongdoing and alleged war crimes, including those involving conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Julian Assange faced a prosecution that had grave implications for journalists and press freedom worldwide,” advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement.
“While we welcome the end of his detention, the US’s pursuit of Assange has set a harmful legal precedent by opening the way for journalists to be tried under the Espionage Act if they receive classified material from whistleblowers.”
Despite the planned release, Assange’s family members won’t be celebrating until the moment Assange is back on home soil.
“We’ve got all our fingers and toes crossed — and I hope the Australian public does as well — that he can make it back here safe and sound,” Shipton told 7NEWS.
– With AAP