UNITE is backing the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) campaign against the detention of Julian Assange pending extradition proceedings.

The NUJ had written a letter to union general secretaries in Britain to raise concerns over the attempted use of the US Espionage Act to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder for having exposed US war crimes committed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Unite echoed the NUJ’s call for unions to support its strong opposition to Mr Assange’s persecution and the plans to extradite him to the US.