WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information, ending a yearslong legal battle and allowing him to return home a free man for the first time since 2012.

He entered the plea Wednesday morning at a court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth north of Guam, The Associated Press reported around 9:45 a.m. local time (7:45 p.m. ET Tuesday). WikiLeaks said Assange was expected to fly to Australia, where he was born…