Birmingham, Plymouth, and Newcastle trades and labour councils have recently voted overwhelmingly to join the campaign to halt the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he could face 175 years in jail.
According to the #DontExtraditeAssange campaign, a similar motion was defeated last year in Plymouth. However, a resolution sponsored by the National Union of Journalists 鈥渟ailed through last week鈥.
Assange鈥檚 extradition hearing is set to resume in September. The NUJ resolution is now being circulated for other trade unions, Labour Party bodies, and campaign organisations to adapt for their own use.
鈥淭his is the defining free speech case of the 21st century,鈥 said John Rees from the聽. 鈥淔reedom of information, free from government censorship, is the lifeblood of an effective labour movement. The NUJ have made a stand.
The NUJ resolution said that Assange鈥檚 indictment 鈥渃riminalises journalistic activities鈥 and the 鈥渟pecial relationship鈥 between the UK and US鈥 makes his extradition 鈥渕ore likely to go ahead鈥. The NUJ also believes that 鈥渢he publication of the Afghan and Iraq war logs and other material by WikiLeaks that are the subject of the US indictment revealed important information that has benefitted the public鈥.
[The NUJ motion in full can be found .]