‘He needs time to heal after 14 years of hell’, says Julian Assange’s wife Stella

Julian Assange’s wife has made an emotional plea for the WikiLeaks founder to be given time to ­recuperate from a 14-year ordeal.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange hugs his wife Stella after arriving at Canberra Airport on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Julian Assange’s wife has made an emotional plea for the WikiLeaks founder to be given time to ­recuperate from a 14-year ordeal avoiding extradition to Sweden over rape allegations that were later dropped and the US over the release of classified documents ­relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Assange embraced his ­family as a free man for the first time in 14 years after he touched down in Canberra on Wednesday night.

Holding back tears, Stella Assange said: “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.

“Julian needs time to recover. To get used to freedoms. Someone told me yesterday who had been through something similar that freedom comes slowly. And I want Julian to have that space to rediscover freedom.

“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.”

Ms Assange said “things finally started to move” towards a plea deal as an extradition appeal was set to be heard in the UK High Court. “I think that it revealed … how uncomfortable the United States government is, in fact, of having these arguments aired, because this case … is an attack on journalism,” she said.

“It’s an attack on the public’s right to know. And it should never have been brought. Julian should never have spent a single day in prison. But today we celebrate ­because today Julian is free.”

Ms Assange thanked Anthony Albanese and the Australian people “who have made this possible”.

“Without their support, there would not be the political space to be able to achieve Julian’s freedom,” she said.

“And that support is across the board. I thank the opposition for also supporting Julian’s release.

“It took all of them, all of them … It took millions of people. It took people working behind the scenes, the people protesting on the streets for days and weeks and months and years.”

Ms Assange declined to comment on whether her husband planned to return to work with WikiLeaks.

Stella Assange, the wife of Assange, during a press conference in Canberra after the WikiLeaks founder arrived back in Australia.

Assange was greeted at Canberra airport by his wife, his young sons, Max and Gabriel – who were meeting their father for the first time out of ­detention – and his ­father, John Shipton.

Ms Assange was in tears earlier on Wednesday, as her husband walked out of Saipan Federal Court in the US juris­diction of the Mariana Islands a free man.

“I can’t stop crying,” she wrote on social media.

She provided social media updates on the proceedings throughout the day, as her husband entered a guilty plea to one count of “conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence ­information”.

“The judge’s sentencing ­remarks have finally put an end to this baseless smear,” she wrote.

As Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles confirmed the government would not pay for the cost of Assange’s $782,190 private jet home, Ms Assange shared a crowdfund by the group Free ­Julian Assange to raise the funds, saying his “freedom comes at a massive cost”.

“Julian will owe $US520,000, which he is obligated to pay back to the Australian government for charter Flight VJ199. He was not permitted to fly commercial airlines or routes to Saipan and onward to Australia. Any contribution big or small is much appreciated,” she wrote.

Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, said the family was “very much looking forward to having him home and safe on ­Australian soil”.

Julian walks out of Saipan federal court a free man. I can’t stop crying.#AssangeFree#AssangeJetpic.twitter.com/Uee3uKceg0

— Stella Assange #FreeAssangeNOW (@Stella_Assange) June 26, 2024

Mr Shipton said he expected his brother would want to live “a quiet life” with his family.

“I imagine he wants to be somewhere he will be left alone to just chill out for a bit,” he said. “So I imagine (he’ll be based) somewhere quite remote in the countryside or the bush.”

Assange’s father, who arrived in Canberra on Tuesday night, said he was excited to watch his son live an “ordinary life” with his family.

“There may be some questions to be resolved by the lawyers and the diplomats in the future, but having Julian home to an ordinary life after 15 years of incarceration in one form or another – house ­arrest, jail and asylum in an ­embassy – is pretty good news,” John Shipton told ABC News.

“As you can easily imagine, his spirits have lifted.

“(He will) be able to walk up and down the beach and feel the sand through his toes in winter, that lovely chill, and be able to learn how to be patient and play with your children for a couple of hours. All of the great beauty of ­ordinary life.”

Julian Assange's father John Shipton. Picture: Getty Images