http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-42648171
WikiLeaks's Julian Assange becomes Ecuadorean citizen
The Ecuadorean government has confirmed that Julian Assange was granted Ecuadorean citizenship on 12 December.
Ecuador subsequently asked the UK to recognise Mr Assange as a diplomatic agent - a move that could have given him immunity.
The UK has refused, saying Mr Assange - who has been at the embassy since 2012 - should now leave and "face justice".
He had been wanted on assault claims in Sweden, which have been dropped, but now fears extradition to the US.
'No solution'
Mr Assange, 46, breached bail conditions when he sought political refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy, while facing sexual assault allegations in Sweden.
Prosecutors there dropped the allegations in May 2017.
However, UK police say he will be arrested if he leaves the embassy in Knightsbridge for failing to surrender to the court in 2012.
An FCO spokesman said: "The government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for Mr Assange here in the UK. The UK did not grant that request, nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter.
"Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice."
Responding to the UK's refusal to grant Mr Assange diplomatic status, Ecuador's foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said: "No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the United Kingdom, which has also shown interest in seeking a way out."
She also said she feared threats to Mr Assange's life coming from third party states.
Earlier in the week Mr Assange posted a picture of himself in an Ecuadorean football shirt, fuelling rumours that he had been issued an Ecuadorean passport.
Skip Twitter post by @JulianAssange
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End of Twitter post by @JulianAssange
In 2016, a UN panel stated that Mr Assange had been "arbitrarily detained" and should get compensation - a ruling branded by then UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond as "ridiculous".
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...85626af34ef_story.html?utm_term=.4ffe7351cb15
Ecuador grants citizenship to Julian Assange in bid to end London embassy standoff
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks to reporters from a balcony of the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, May 19, 2017. (Arrizab/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock)
By William Branigin and Simeon Tegel January 11 at 12:57 PM
Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the South American nation’s foreign minister announced Thursday, in a bid to resolve an “unsustainable” situation at its embassy in London, where Assange sought refuge more than five years ago.
But a standoff with British authorities continued, as the Foreign Office rejected an Ecuadoran request that it grant diplomatic status to Assange, insisting instead that the Australian national “leave the embassy to face justice.”
Ecuador’s foreign minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, subsequently said that Assange would not leave the embassy in the absence of security guarantees. She said in a news conference Thursday in Quito, the Ecuadoran capital, that Assange was granted citizenship on Dec. 12, after having applied for it in September.
Espinosa also said that Ecuador was concerned about potential threats to Assange’s life from unspecified other nations and was looking for a “dignified” exit from the stalemate in London.
[Assange says CIA is waging “war on free speech” ]
2:05
Assange: The fight 'is far from over'
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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks at Ecuador’s embassy in London on May 19, 2017. (Reuters)
Assange, who angered the U.S. government when his anti-secrecy organization published troves of classified documents obtained from a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in 2010, sought refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was sought in an investigation of alleged sexual offenses. Sweden later dropped the case, but Assange remained ensconced in the embassy because he still faced arrest by British authorities for jumping bail.
He also is said to fear extradition to the United States, where the Trump administration’s Justice Department is weighing whether to charge him for his role in publishing the secret documents obtained from the Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, who was then known as Bradley Manning.
News of the Ecuadoran move to grant Assange citizenship emerged Wednesday when the Ecuadoran newspaper El Universo reported that, according to the country’s civil register, he had been assigned an identity number. The daily reported that Assange also may have been issued a passport.
[Timeline: Julian Assange and WikiLeaks]
The Ecuadoran Foreign Ministry at first responded that it would not address “rumors or distorted or out-of-context information,” Germany’s DPA news agency reported.
Espinosa, the Ecuadoran foreign minister, said Tuesday that her country was trying to resolve a situation she described as “unsustainable.”
Assange has been living in a small office at the country’s London Embassy, which gave him asylum in August 2012. He had surrendered to British police in December 2010, a month after Sweden requested his extradition, and was held for 10 days before he was released on bail.
But when his challenge to the extradition request was rejected, he jumped bail and became a fugitive, turning up at the Ecuadoran Embassy.
Assange was given asylum by Ecuador’s then-president, Rafael Correa, a fiery leftist and fierce critic of Washington who once expelled both the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. Agency for International Development from his country.
However, Correa was succeeded last year by his former vice president, Lenin Moreno, who has sought to put Ecuador on a more moderate path. The new president also became involved in a public spat with Assange over the WikiLeaks founder’s vocal support for Catalan separatists in Spain.
[Justice Department debates new charges against WikiLeaks]
WikiLeaks's Julian Assange becomes Ecuadorean citizen
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The Ecuadorean government has confirmed that Julian Assange was granted Ecuadorean citizenship on 12 December.
Ecuador subsequently asked the UK to recognise Mr Assange as a diplomatic agent - a move that could have given him immunity.
The UK has refused, saying Mr Assange - who has been at the embassy since 2012 - should now leave and "face justice".
He had been wanted on assault claims in Sweden, which have been dropped, but now fears extradition to the US.
'No solution'
Mr Assange, 46, breached bail conditions when he sought political refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy, while facing sexual assault allegations in Sweden.
Prosecutors there dropped the allegations in May 2017.
However, UK police say he will be arrested if he leaves the embassy in Knightsbridge for failing to surrender to the court in 2012.
An FCO spokesman said: "The government of Ecuador recently requested diplomatic status for Mr Assange here in the UK. The UK did not grant that request, nor are we in talks with Ecuador on this matter.
"Ecuador knows that the way to resolve this issue is for Julian Assange to leave the embassy to face justice."
Responding to the UK's refusal to grant Mr Assange diplomatic status, Ecuador's foreign minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said: "No solution will be achieved without international co-operation and the co-operation of the United Kingdom, which has also shown interest in seeking a way out."
She also said she feared threats to Mr Assange's life coming from third party states.
Earlier in the week Mr Assange posted a picture of himself in an Ecuadorean football shirt, fuelling rumours that he had been issued an Ecuadorean passport.
Skip Twitter post by @JulianAssange
Report
End of Twitter post by @JulianAssange
In 2016, a UN panel stated that Mr Assange had been "arbitrarily detained" and should get compensation - a ruling branded by then UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond as "ridiculous".
https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...85626af34ef_story.html?utm_term=.4ffe7351cb15
Ecuador grants citizenship to Julian Assange in bid to end London embassy standoff
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks to reporters from a balcony of the Ecuadoran Embassy in London, May 19, 2017. (Arrizab/Epa-Efe/Rex/Shutterstock)
By William Branigin and Simeon Tegel January 11 at 12:57 PM
Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, the South American nation’s foreign minister announced Thursday, in a bid to resolve an “unsustainable” situation at its embassy in London, where Assange sought refuge more than five years ago.
But a standoff with British authorities continued, as the Foreign Office rejected an Ecuadoran request that it grant diplomatic status to Assange, insisting instead that the Australian national “leave the embassy to face justice.”
Ecuador’s foreign minister, Maria Fernanda Espinosa, subsequently said that Assange would not leave the embassy in the absence of security guarantees. She said in a news conference Thursday in Quito, the Ecuadoran capital, that Assange was granted citizenship on Dec. 12, after having applied for it in September.
Espinosa also said that Ecuador was concerned about potential threats to Assange’s life from unspecified other nations and was looking for a “dignified” exit from the stalemate in London.
[Assange says CIA is waging “war on free speech” ]
2:05
Assange: The fight 'is far from over'
Embed
Share
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks at Ecuador’s embassy in London on May 19, 2017. (Reuters)
Assange, who angered the U.S. government when his anti-secrecy organization published troves of classified documents obtained from a U.S. Army intelligence analyst in 2010, sought refuge in the Ecuadoran Embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was sought in an investigation of alleged sexual offenses. Sweden later dropped the case, but Assange remained ensconced in the embassy because he still faced arrest by British authorities for jumping bail.
He also is said to fear extradition to the United States, where the Trump administration’s Justice Department is weighing whether to charge him for his role in publishing the secret documents obtained from the Army intelligence analyst, Chelsea Manning, who was then known as Bradley Manning.
News of the Ecuadoran move to grant Assange citizenship emerged Wednesday when the Ecuadoran newspaper El Universo reported that, according to the country’s civil register, he had been assigned an identity number. The daily reported that Assange also may have been issued a passport.
[Timeline: Julian Assange and WikiLeaks]
The Ecuadoran Foreign Ministry at first responded that it would not address “rumors or distorted or out-of-context information,” Germany’s DPA news agency reported.
Espinosa, the Ecuadoran foreign minister, said Tuesday that her country was trying to resolve a situation she described as “unsustainable.”
Assange has been living in a small office at the country’s London Embassy, which gave him asylum in August 2012. He had surrendered to British police in December 2010, a month after Sweden requested his extradition, and was held for 10 days before he was released on bail.
But when his challenge to the extradition request was rejected, he jumped bail and became a fugitive, turning up at the Ecuadoran Embassy.
Assange was given asylum by Ecuador’s then-president, Rafael Correa, a fiery leftist and fierce critic of Washington who once expelled both the U.S. ambassador and the U.S. Agency for International Development from his country.
However, Correa was succeeded last year by his former vice president, Lenin Moreno, who has sought to put Ecuador on a more moderate path. The new president also became involved in a public spat with Assange over the WikiLeaks founder’s vocal support for Catalan separatists in Spain.
[Justice Department debates new charges against WikiLeaks]
Assange getting Ecuadorian ID could be ‘first step’ to diplomatic immunity – rights activist 
Assange issued ‘Ecuadorian ID’ as UK rejects bid to grant him diplomatic status – reports 
