Sports Desk:

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been freed after he pleaded guilty in a Saipan court to a single charge of espionage as part of a deal with the United States Justice Department allowing him to return to his native Australia.

Assange, 52, admitted a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents on Wednesday morning in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands, which is a US commonwealth territory in the Western Pacific.

US District Judge Ramona Manglona later sentenced him to five years and two months – the time he has been in prison in the United Kingdom fighting extradition to the US, news agencies reported.

“With this pronouncement, it appears that you will be able to walk out of this courtroom a free man,” the judge said.

The Australian earlier flew in from the United Kingdom on a private aircraft and smiled as he walked into court in a dark suit, with his tie loosened around the collar, accompanied by members of his legal team and Australia’s ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd, a former prime minister.

Inside, he answered basic questions from the judge and listened as the terms of the deal were discussed.

Addressing the court, Assange said that he believed the Espionage Act under which he was charged contradicted First Amendment rights in the US Constitution, but that he accepted that encouraging sources to provide classified information for publication could be unlawful.

As a condition of his plea, he will be required to destroy information that was provided to WikiLeaks. Source: Al Jazeera