Julian Assange's father says his son's release is a 'tremendous relief'

Julian Assange's father John Shipton has described his son's release from prison as a "tremendous relief".

Speaking to Sky's Cordelia Lynch, he said: "It is a tremendous relief from an onerous, ongoing burden of having Julian banged up for year after year after year."

It comes after US authorities agreed to drop their demand for the WikiLeaks founder to be extradited from the UK having struck a plea deal with him.

#skynews #assange #unitedstates

[marilynmesange]

Free at last! Great news and day for humanity . Assange is a legendary human and exceptional journalist with strong integrity and ethics . The world needs men like him .

[xelakram]

I truly hope that Julian enjoys his freedom and that his health improves quickly. He has been treated so appallingly. Freedom for Julian at last! 👍🏻 My very best wishes to Julian and all his family.

[MorrisonLee-wtjp]

What a beautiful man, so deeply wise, simple, eloquent and gentle. The whole family represent the best part of us Aussies. I am proud of them and the man who told the Truth, courageously and hard words in the face of a corrupt Superpower. Respect. Brisbane.

[johnpullen]

What a nice guy. I wish he was my dad...

[das]

It should never have happened. Sweden is irresponsible

[leonbrooks]

For the people who are directly responsible for the war in Iraq to claim Julian endangered lives is truly disgusting and in my opinion they are trying to deflect away from their own guilt. They claim he endangered lives, we know their actions killed over 1 million people!

[richardshearman]

True journalism, unlike the government mouthpiece journalists

[Bob-ndmr]

was moved by this interview ...Assanges father was life me feel positive about life..
well done free people of OZ . but here is the alternative as described by Solzhenitsyn :
The DARK SIDE of Life that we have to counter and stand up against or else ...."we deserve everything that then happens"

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”
― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

[joanlaithwaite]

🥳 PLEASE LORD PROTECT HIM FROM DARK FORCES 🙏 ✌️👌X

[alanmorgan]

Thanks John and to all the people who supported Julian, not like the msm who said very little, just incase they up set there masters

[zamiadams]

A great day for everyone, a man being freed.

[maameammaowusu]

His responses are so poetic! I’m very happy Julian is free.

[joseantonymahesh]

A big salute to the justice system. That’s best news this year.

[tveleruusk]

It’s really nice to see him finally go free and really happy for his family after all they had to go through. Many questions remain about the way US and UK governments behaved over his case.

[karinnitschke]

I am so happy that Julians father can have this moment❤

[davidoneill]

He should really keep quiet & not try to interfere in another country's politics. Shame in him he deserves gaol time

[watersprite]

Both the UK & US Govts., should feel thoroughly ashamed of themselves, for keeping this man locked up for so long; this is well overdue. Disgusting and now they have elections going on, let's show some respite and come up with an offer which makes them look good. Propaganda and BS! God bless Julian Assange and his family!

[gillygrey]

Its absolutely disgraceful what they did to julian Assange, I'm so glad he is free, i don't believe for one second that he endangered people's lives, he was fitted up good and proper.

[patriciaruth]

First and foremost I am so happy and relieved that he is released but I will say to the fellow journalist that they should be ashamed of themselves for not supporting Julian Assan will go down in ❤ history as a hero well done

[timothybrinicombe]

Glad to hear folks out there finally coming to there senses..😊