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Updated July 28th, 2021 at 19:17 IST

Ecuador strips Julian Assange of citizenship that was provided in January 2018

The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, the 50-year-old who is currently in a British prison has been stripped of Ecuador citizenship, as per reports.

Reported by: Aanchal Nigam
Julian Assange
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, who is currently in a British prison has been stripped of Ecuador citizenship. As per reports, Ecuador’s justice system formally informed the 50-year-old Australian of the nullity of his naturalisation in a letter in response to a claim filed by the South American country’s foreign ministry. A naturalisation is reconsidered when it is granted based on the concealment of relevant facts, false documents or fraud. Ecuadorian authorities have reportedly said that Assange’s naturalisation letter had several inconsistencies, different signatures along with the possible alteration of documents and unpaid fees among several other issues.

As per The Guardian report, Assange’s lawyer, Carlos Poveda said that the decision of Ecuadorian authorities was made in the absence of due process and the WikiLeaks founder was not even allowed to appear in the case. He reportedly said that on the date Assange was cited he was “deprived of his liberty” and with a health crisis inside the “deprivation of liberty centre where he was being held.” Poveda also informed that the 50-year-old will file appeals asking for amplification and clarification of the revoking of his Ecuadorian citizenship. 

Poveda reportedly said, “More than the importance of nationality, it is a matter of respecting rights and following due process in withdrawing nationality.” Assange was given Ecuadorian citizenship back in January 2018 as a part of a failed attempt by the government of then-President Lenin Moreno to turn the WikiLeaks founder into a diplomat to get him out of its embassy in London. On Monday, the Pichincha court for contentious administrative matters backtracked on Moreno’s decision. 

Ecuadorian foreign ministry also said that the court had “acted independently and followed due process in a case that took place during the previous government and that was raised by the same previous government.”

Julian Assange remains jailed in UK

The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in April 2019 in the UK and the British court temporarily blocked his extradition to the United States in January 2021 on 18 charges including the ones through the Espionage Act of obtaining and sharing classified information. After it was founded in 2006, WikiLeaks rose to global recognition in 2010 when it published a series of leaks provided by the US Army intelligence Chelsea Manning. The 49-year-old Assange remains imprisoned in Britain’s toughest jail, HMP Belmarsh and has not been bailed ahead of an appeal hearing because of flight risk.

IMAGE: AP

(With Agency Inputs)

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Published July 28th, 2021 at 19:17 IST

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