WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange arrives at court before guilty plea in deal with US securing his freedom

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange reaches plea deal with U.S. Justice Department, set to return home to Australia.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has arrived at a federal courthouse in Saipan ahead of an expected guilty plea in a deal with the U.S. Justice Department that will set him free to return home to Australia.

The plane carrying the eccentric computer expert and internet publisher touched down more than two hours before the scheduled start of a plea hearing, in which he is set to admit to a felony for publishing U.S. military secrets under a deal that spares him prison time in America after years spent jailed in the United Kingdom while fighting extradition to America.

He arrived in a white vehicle, wearing a dark suit with a tie loosened at the collar, and was briskly escorted into the courthouse while ignoring questions from reporters.

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The hearing, taking place in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth in the Pacific, is the stunning culmination of the U.S. government's yearslong pursuit of the publisher who has been painted both as a hero and a reckless criminal for exposing hundreds of thousands of sensitive military documents.

The U.S. Justice Department agreed to hold the hearing on the remote island because Assange opposed coming to the continental U.S. and because it's near Australia, where he will return after he enters his plea.

The deal — disclosed Monday night in court papers — represents the final chapter in a more than decade-long legal odyssey over the fate of Assange, whose hugely popular secret-sharing website made him a cause célèbre among press freedom advocates who said he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing. U.S. prosecutors have said his actions recklessly put the country's national security at risk.