'Unsung heroes' Dedicated group of supporters celebrate release

Beyond Julian Assange's family, few have been celebrating the past 24 hours more than the dedicated band of supporters that grew out of vigils and protests for him over the past two decades.

- Ben Quinn

"In all the years that I have supported him, I have learned not to be surprised by anything," said Emmy Butlin, a Greek-born Londoner who was a linchpin of the unofficial campaign to free Assange that worked in tandem with the broader push to oppose his extradition.

"It's been a hard journey, at times full of grief, but we have a tremendous sense of achievement.

It's been marvellous to be surrounded by people who share your dreams and your ideas."

Butlin - who links her passion for freedom of the press to her own family's experience under the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974 - was one of three people who began holding a vigil in 2012 outside the Ecuadorian embassy. Assange had sought asylum inside the building to avoid extradition to Sweden on a rape allegation that he denied, and which he claimed was a ploy to hand him over to the US.