Limerick senator says release of Julian Assange a hard-fought win ...

SINN Féin Senator Paul Gavan has deemed the release of Julian Assange as “a hard-fought victory for press freedom, and a testament to the power of the worldwide campaign for his release”.

Senator Gavan was responding after it was confirmed that Assange had been freed from Belmarsh Prison in Britain, where he had been incarcerated for five years.

The Castleconnell-based senator paid tribute to the Wikileaks founder who helped to expose numerous war crimes by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Julian has been a courageous publisher of deeply uncomfortable truths about illegal wars of occupation by western powers, and horrendous war crimes,” Senator Gavan said.

“For this reason, he was targeted and singled out for appalling treatment tantamount to torture for well over a decade.

“This was to send a warning message to all journalists and the consequences of speaking truth to power and has had a chilling effect on press freedom.

“The campaign for Julian, led by his wife Stella, has been magnificent, unrelenting, and inspirational. Have no doubt that without the participation of hundreds of thousands of people across the world, Julian would still be in jail.

“For my part, I was one of many Sinn Féin representatives who spoke up as often as we could both in our national parliament and within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

“This is a great and hard-fought victory for press freedom, and a testament to the power of the worldwide campaign for his release.”