Ecuador has granted citizenship to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange,
who sought refuge in the country’s embassy in London over five years ago
to avoid arrest. Foreign Minister Maria Fernanda Espinosa said on
Thursday that his citizenship was granted on December 12, 2017 after
Assange, an Australian, requested it on Sept. 16.
“Assange made the request after having lived about five and half
years under the jurisdiction of the Ecuadorian state,’’ the minister
said. Britain said it had rejected a request for diplomatic status for
Assange, after he was given a passport by Ecuador.
Meanwhile, the British government confirmed that Ecuador had recently
asked for diplomatic status for Assange. “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,’’ the British Foreign Office said in a
statement.
Assange posted a photograph of himself posing in Ecuador’s national
football team shirt on Wednesday, appearing to suggest that his legal
status had changed.
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