Julian Assange: Brother says he's 'overwhelmed' to be out of prison

well joining me now is Julian assange's Brother Gabriel Shipton good morning to thanks for joining us how is he yeah Julian uh obviously is overwhelmed uh to be out of prison and it's he's been on a plane for a very long time now uh he's not quite home uh back in Australia yet so he's still got a little bit of a way to go uh but yeah I've been speaking to him um this week and uh just going through all the details with him and you know uh very anxious very excited uh and he's looking forward to you know spending time with his family and and being free uh being able to have the sunshine on on uh his face hear the birds go for a swim in the ocean back in Australia so he's very much looking forward to that what's his health like these days because of course he spent a long time in the Ecuadorian Embassy and subsequently in belmarsh prison well his health has been deteriorating he you know he has a uh you know a few different conditions uh healthwise uh but I think now is a chance for him to rest and recuperate and we've been told by um by the doctors who assessed him that you know he can recover from this so I think that's that's the time for him now is to uh to rest um and and to recover but we're just so you know as Julian's family family uh we're um we're Overjoyed we're overwhelmed uh that that he is finally free this has been uh an incredibly long uh campaign uh with many uh millions of people around the world advocating for Julian uh the Australian government has been uh has been very much a part of this at these final uh moments they're the only government who who can represent Julian at a diplomatic level so uh they were able to step in at these last moment to secure uh help secure this uh deal for Julian and secure his freedom so very thankful to them uh all the people in the United Kingdom who've been advocating for Julian uh over over many many years uh this is uh this is their day too so I hope there's a few people out there uh who are going to have a beer tonight and uh and celebrate Julian's Freedom you'll appreciate not everyone feels the same way and this plea bargaining has led to him admitting one charge as he touches down in uh Mariana Islands and goes to court there just tell me how that came about and also the fact that it doesn't mean he's cleared his name does it well I can't really comment on on the on the deal just yet uh he's still as I said he's still got a little way to go until he's back home safely uh in in in Australia but Gabriel to get to this point how long has it taken I mean the negotiations behind the scenes it's taken years it's taken years it's taken uh constant lobbying around the world constant protests it's taken the media the media has been integral in this they've been covering this story more and more which has uh put a lot more pressure on those who have been uh pursuing Julian uh I've been working in Washington uh working in Congress over there advocating for uh Julian's release uh you know for the past 3 or 4 years uh this has been a global effort uh to get Julian Assange uh free and credit to everybody out there uh the pope has has you know advocated for Julian the president president Lula of Brazil the prime the Australian prime minister this has been a global effort to free Julian a lot of people on his side but let me just come back to that point about not clearing his name and you know critics will still point to those charges that kind of start Ed a lot of this in Sweden rape allegations and the time limit for those ran out but still people will say they're still hanging there well those charges uh were there were never any charges actually it was a it's the longest running preliminary investigation in in Swedish history and and that was uh dropped by the prosecutors three times reopened uh three times and then finally uh they dropped it because they didn't have enough evidence to actually charge Julian uh so I mean that's all in the past now and uh we're looking forward to weling Julian back to his family uh in Australia and really I think uh his freedom is is the main thing uh that that we've been working towards and uh We've almost secured it uh he's not quite back on Australian Soul yet uh but he will be and so yeah sorry to to rush you there just we we're running close to 're Running Out of Time almost but once he does get back to Australia what does the future hold for him what's he going to do how's he going to make a living well these are all very good questions uh we've been so focused on on actually getting him out of prison uh and I think now is the time for him to rest and really recuperate be with his family uh and have a bit of a quiet a quiet life for a while you know like all does he have a home there would he stay with family members where is home for julan Assange in Australia uh hopefully somewhere quiet out of the way uh where uh he can go outside feel the sun on his face um you know and be in the Australian bush or something like that uh so that he can have a chance to really rest and recover uh and spend some time with us and uh yeah it' be just nice to enjoy a meal with him uh when he's back home in Australia well we know there's plenty of room there and certainly a lot more than he's been used to in recent years of course Gabriel thank you so much for joining us on Sky news this morning thanks for having me

Channel: Sky News

Views: 62,428

Keywords: SKY NEWS LIVE, SKY NEWS, ASSANGE, UK, AUSTRALIA, julian assange, united states, us, sky news, prison, WikiLeaks, conspiracy, extradition, Belmarsh, Stella Assange, Gabriel Shipton

Id: SZNciGkFvwU

Length: 6min 10sec (370 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 25 2024