WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Hugs Wife, Father As He Returns To Australia After Years Of Legal Battles: VIDEO

Earlier, Assange walked out of a US District Court in Saipan a free man after pleading guilty to a single count of violating US espionage law. Under

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange returned to Australia on Wednesday following years of legal challenges. His arrival was marked by an enthusiastic reception from his wife, father, and several supporters. Footage captured Assange disembarking from a private jet at Canberra airport, where he waved to the media before passionately kissing his wife, Stella, and lifting her off the ground. He also embraced his father before entering the terminal with his legal team.

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Julian Assange Freed 

Earlier, Assange walked out of a US District Court in Saipan a free man after pleading guilty to a single count of violating US espionage law. Under the terms of the deal, Assange must destroy information provided to WikiLeaks. He is expected to receive a sentence of five years and two months, with credit for time served in a British prison during his extradition fight.

Assange's return marks the end of a long saga, during which he spent more than five years in a British high-security prison and seven years in asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he battled extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations and to the US on 18 criminal charges. 

These charges were related to WikiLeaks' 2010 release of hundreds of thousands of classified US military documents about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, one of the largest breaches of classified information in US history. 

During a three-hour hearing in Saipan, Assange pleaded guilty to conspiring to obtain and disclose classified national defence documents, although he believed his actions were protected by the US Constitution's First Amendment. 

"Working as a journalist, I encouraged my source to provide information that was said to be classified to be published that information," he told the court. "I believed the First Amendment protected that activity, but I accept that it was... a violation of espionage statute". 

Chief US District Judge Ramona V. Manglona accepted his plea, noting the US government's assertion that there was no personal victim of Assange's actions. She wished Assange, who will turn 53 on July 3, an early happy birthday, as she released him to time already served in a British jail.