Ecuador revokes Assange’s citizenship

Ecuador has suspended Julian Assange’s citizenship and accused him and people connected to his WikiLeaks group of collaborating in attempts to destabilize the Andean nation’s government, after years of offering him shelter.

There are "innumerable irregularities in the concession of that nationality," Foreign Affairs Minister Jose Valencia said.

"For that reason, the ministry decided to formally nullify it," Valencia added.

Assange was arrested on Thursday by British police in London after the government of the Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno stripped him of the political asylum that was granted to him under the previous government in 2012.

To some, Australian-born Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power and for championing free speech. To others, he is a dangerous figure who has undermined the security of the United States and has too many ties to Russia.

WikiLeaks angered Washington by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that laid bare often highly critical U.S. appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.

Assange’s lawyer in Quito, Carlos Poveda, told reporters asylum was terminated in reprisal for corruption allegations against President Lenin Moreno and that his life will be in danger if he is extradited to the United States.

Assange was offered refuge in 2012 by Ecuador’s then-president Rafael Correa, but his relationship with Ecuador has soured under Moreno, who has said Assange violated the terms of his asylum.

Assange received Ecuadorean citizenship in January 2018.

Moreno was angered after years-old private photographs of him and his family taken when they lived in Europe circulated on social media. His government said it believed the photos were shared by WikiLeaks.

U.S. prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Assange on Thursday, accusing him of conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to gain access to a government computer as part of one of the largest compromises of classified information in U.S. history.

Assange faces up to five years in prison on the American charge, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement.