The following resolution was unanimously adopted by a meeting called by the Socialist Equality Party in Sydney last Sunday. Similar resolutions were passed at events in Brisbane, Alice Springs and Wellington, New Zealand.

1. This meeting, of November 24, 2019, in Bankstown, Sydney, condemns the nine-year persecution of WikiLeaks’ publisher Julian Assange by the US, British, Swedish, Ecuadorian and Australian governments. The vendetta against Assange is a fundamental attack on democratic rights, above all, freedom of speech. It is an attempt to intimidate and silence all opponents of great power war crimes, diplomatic conspiracies and intelligence agency intrigues.

2. We demand that the Australian government immediately deploy all available diplomatic and legal means to compel the British government to cease supporting the US attempt to extradite Assange on false charges of espionage and release him immediately from custody. We condemn the illegal CIA spying on Assange and his lawyers when he was inside the Ecuadorian embassy and the decision of the current Ecuadorian regime to unlawfully terminate his political asylum.

3. Assange must be freed without any conditions and fully compensated for the torment inflicted on him. He must be able to return to Australia, or wherever he chooses, so he can seek urgently required medical treatment, with a guaranteed immunity from any US extradition application.

4. This meeting extends its full support to Chelsea Manning, the courageous whistleblower, who leaked the historic exposures published by WikiLeaks in 2010. Manning has been re-imprisoned by the American government and is being fined $1,000 per day for refusing to testify before a grand jury against Assange. We demand her immediate and unconditional release.