Greek journalists' union grants honorary membership to Julian Assange

The Journalists' Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA) decided to grant an honorary membership and union ID card to journalist and Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange, ESIEA announced on Thursday.

The Greek union is participating in an initiative by the Italian journalists union's (Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana-FNSI), which is being adopted by members of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), an affiliate of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ). Eighteen European journalists' unions have so far followed suit.

A joint declaration co-signed by participating journalists' unions was presented to Assange's wife, Stella Morris, at FNSI's offices in Rome on Thursday.

"We, the undersigned European unions and associations of journalists, join the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) in calling on the US government to drop all charges against Julian Assange and allow him to return home to his wife and children," reads part of the declaration.

Julian Assange remains detained in London facing extradition to the US.