Julian Assange.
Victoria Jones/PA Image via Getty Images
- Julian Assange’s Ecuadorian citizenship has been revoked.
- This was after the country notified Australia that Assange’s naturalization had been cancelled.
- However, Assange’s lawyers stated that the decision was made without due process.
The court revoked the Ecuadorian citizenship of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The Ecuadorian judicial system officially notified the Australian that his naturalization had been cancelled after the Ecuadorian authorities expressed that the letter of support had multiple inconsistencies, different signatures, possible changes to documents, and unpaid fees.
Assange’s lawyer Carlos Poveda told the Associated Press that the decision was made without due process and that Assange was not allowed to appear in court.
“On the day [Assange] Summoned, he was deprived of his liberty and a health crisis occurred in the deprivation center where he was detained,” Poveda said, adding that he would appeal.
As the United States seeks to extradite Assange, Assange is still being held in the heavily guarded Belmarsh prison in London. In January, a British court ruled that Assange should not be extradited to the United States, saying the move would be “oppressive.”
Treasure
He was accused of conspiring with former US military intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to divulge large amounts of classified material in 2010. His supporters and press freedom organizations see him as an investigative journalist exposing war crimes.
Secret documents related to the military contacts of the Allied forces in Afghanistan were published on WikiLeaks, and Assange also cooperated with reporters from famous news media.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a total of 18 charges in a statement concerning “Assange’s alleged role in one of the largest leaks of classified information in U.S. history.” American officials argued that Assange put the lives of American informants at risk.
If found guilty, Assange could be sentenced to 175 years in prison in the United States.
Assange fled to the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition. He was granted asylum there and later citizenship.
At that time, the Ecuadorian government planned to grant Assange diplomatic status, which would allow him to leave the embassy safely.
However, tensions between Quito and Assange then broke out.
The Ecuadorian government revoked his asylum status in 2019, and Assange was subsequently imprisoned by the British police for breaching bail conditions.
