Sinn Féin Senator Paul Gavan has welcomed the unanimous call from Dublin City Councillors for freedom for Julian Assange. 

Julian Assange has been incarcerated in Belmarsh prison in England for the past four years awaiting extradition to the US on charges of espionage.

Sinn Féin Councillor Larry O’Toole introduced the motion at the most recent meeting of Dublin City Council, which called for the release of Julian Assange and for all charges against him to be dropped. 

During the debate on the motion, Cllr O’Toole explained: “If Julian is convicted on charges of espionage in the US he faces 175 years in jail. Yet his only ‘crime’ was to reveal to the world the truth of illegal US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

The motion was adopted unanimously by Council members. Welcoming this development Senator Gavan, who has raised the Assange case on numerous occasions in both the Seanad and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, said:

“I congratulate Cllr O’Toole for bringing forward an excellent motion which is aligned to the call from the National Union of Journalists for freedom for Julian.

“There is a growing awareness that there is something fundamentally wrong with any society that tries to shut down or punish a man like Julian for exposing war crimes. 

“The continuing imprisonment and torture of Julian is an affront to all of the values that true democrats hold most dear. Dublin City Council have sent a powerful and united message of solidarity to Julian Assange this week. 

“I have no doubt other councils will follow. These charges must be dropped, and Julian must be freed.”