The following resolution calling for the defence of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was passed unanimously at the inaugural meeting of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee held on Sunday September 13.

This meeting of the London Bus Drivers Rank-and-File Safety Committee condemns the frame-up and state persecution of WikiLeaks publisher and journalist Julian Assange. Imprisoned in London’s notorious Belmarsh maximum security prison, he has been charged under the US Espionage Act (1917). If found guilty, he faces 175 years in a US federal prison.

The extradition hearings underway in London are a grotesque show trial staged by the British state. We reject the lies against Assange by the media, the Tory government and their allies in the Labour Party. Assange is not guilty of “espionage” or “hacking.” He has been targeted for exposing war crimes by the US, Britain and their allies—crimes that led to the deaths of 1 million people in Iraq and Afghanistan.

We call on all workers everywhere to come to Assange’s defence. At stake are basic democratic rights, including free speech and freedom of the press. The defence of Assange is the spearhead of the struggle against militarism and war abroad, and the mobilisation of the state against the working class at home.

We demand a halt to extradition proceedings, the dropping of all charges and Assange’s immediate release from prison. Julian Assange must be reunited with his family and be afforded full compensation for the suffering he has endured as a result of the decade-long state vendetta against him.

September 13, 2020