JULIAN ASSANGE landed in Australia a free man today after a 14-year battle against extradition to the US. 

The WikiLeaks founder flew into Canberra after pleading guilty to a single charge under the Espionage Act for publishing evidence of US war crimes as part of a deal with US authorities. 

The use of the 100-year-old law, originally used to prosecute spies during WWI, was condemned as having grave implications for press freedom.