Posted on 02/21/2019 7:00:00 PM PST by Texas Fossil
Julian Assange has been issued a new passport by his native Australia, regional media reported Thursday, clearing one of several hurdles keeping the wanted WikiLeaks publisher from exiting the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and returning home.
Andrew Todd, an assistant secretary for the Consular and Crisis Management Division of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, confirmed that the government approved a passport application filed by Mr. Assange in 2018, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“Mr. Assange does have an Australian passport,” Mr. Todd said during a Senate hearing, the newspaper reported.
Mr. Assange, 47, was born in Townsville, Australia, in 1971. He has lived in the Ecuadorian Embassy since 2012, however, when he sought asylum in the face of the U.S. investigating his WikiLeaks website over its publication of classified State and Defense Department material. British authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in the interim, and he fears he will be apprehended if he leaves the embassy and extradited to the U.S. to face charges related to releasing hundreds of thousands of secretive documents.
Ecuador granted asylum and citizenship to Mr. Assange in 2012 and 2017, respectively, but the future of his status has become clouded on account of the current administration in Quito repeatedly raising concerns recently regarding his ongoing residency.
snip
Mr. Assange ultimately was issued the passport in October 2018, the report said, following “lengthy negotiations” over whether he wanted abroad for a “serious” offense as described by Australian law.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
I doubt it happens any time soon.
If it wasn’t for Assange, the world would have never known HALF the things it did about Hillary, Uranium one, he founding and funding of ISIS, etc. We would have never seen the Podesta emails and learned about Pizzagate.
He saved the nation from Hillary by allowing all that to be published.
Well, if he testifies against Der Hilderbeast, it might be he won’t live long.
Yes, Snowden needs to face charges and then make his defense as a whistleblower. He might get some leniancy for thinking he was a whistleblower, but won't deserve any for the damage he did.
I think as far as the powers that be are concerned, it makes no difference. If he exposes them, they intend to get him.
I’m not making him out to be a hero. But I’m not sure what his actual crime is either.
Heroes face the consequences of their actions.
Exactly. What is the crime for reporting information? But the gov’t can still make your life miserable. They can lock you up without bail and without trial. And if they ever do give you a trial they control what you can say and can’t say.
our legal system has become 3rd world.
What did he do that was illegal?
“Allow him to go home, then set the record straight on Seth Rich”
I agree. Assange literally has the power to save the United States by spilling the beans on the Seth Rich killing. It would be the end of the Democrats as a national party here and, HOPEFULLY, allow the real swamp draining to take place.
He needs to go to Ecuador though. Australia will arrest and hold him.
The ones who collect all the data for the great database in the sky.
Can you imagine if Assange has actual proof that Seth Rich was the leaker? All hell would break loose. Media would go into hard core denial. This is my ultimate dream.
Can you imagine if a para military group had caught wind of the assault on Roger Stone’s home in Florida at 6 am? What if they lay in waiting, and caught the FBI SWAT team by surprise? Could well be the start of CWII. I don’t think the Mueller team had any idea of how wrong that whole incident could have gone. (That’s my penultimate dream.)
P
Other then jumping bail in the UK I'm not sure, but people who think they're innocent don't usually hide behind Equador's skirts.
Yep. He would have used that information to get free instead of hiding in Equador's basement.
The original charges came up from two Swede ladies. In this ‘hiding-around’ Europe period, Julian had various groups who were sponsoring him and providing bed-space. For some reason, single women were often the ones harboring Julian, and I think over time...he’d developed this ‘James Bond-like’ character which charmed women. The general rule in Sweden for sex to occur...you need consent. Woman #1 had some idea that poor Julian wasn’t getting ‘it’...but she didn’t want to be seen as a loose woman. After that evening, Julian moved on in the community (same town) to woman #2, and she demanded consent rules and that he hadn’t slept around. Julian fibbed on that, and woman #2 found out about woman #1. They both go off to the city prosecutor and the rest is history.
Personally, if he’d just stayed there and gone through the court action, I doubt that he would have done more than six to ten months of jail time. Instead, he’s been in this embassy hiding out for six-plus years.
So in other words.. He’s politically prosecuted soviet style
I think the fear was that once in custody, America could have requested extradition for his WikiLeaks activities/potential espionage. Otherwise your opinion might have undoubtedly become legal reality.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.