Ken Loach is one of the world’s most respected film directors. His career began at the BBC in 1963 and consists of a body of work demonstrating socialist convictions and a deeply felt sympathy for the working class.

Notable works include Up the Junction, Cathy Come Home, Kes, Days of Hope and A Question of Leadership. He dealt with the Spanish Civil War in Land And Freedom and the struggle against Britain’s oppression of Ireland in The Wind That Shakes The Barley—for which he won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 2006. He won a second Palme d’Or for I, Daniel Blake in 2016.

The persecution of Julian Assange must end. To force him to remain in the Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the USA is clearly political.

He is right to be fearful. In the current febrile atmosphere people in the US have called for his execution.

He has defended the public’s right to know what is done in their name when others who now attack him have run for cover.

It is time that Julian Assange is free to leave without fear.