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Anonymous ID: f88de3 Aug. 8, 2022, 5:45 p.m. No.17260694   🗄️.is 🔗kun

WikiLeaks

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Mike Pompeo has been summoned by a Spanish court to testify over claims the US plotted to assassinate Julian Assange @Telegraph

 

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1541104002968043525

 

Did the US plot to assassinate Julian Assange? A judge wants answers from Mike Pompeo

 

Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain's National Court sends request to US authorities to call the former secretary of state as a witness

 

Did the US plot to assassinate Julian Assange? A judge wants answers from Mike Pompeo

 

Judge Santiago Pedraz of Spain's National Court sends request to US authorities to call the former secretary of state as a witness

By James Badcock in Madrid 20 June 2022 • 9:59pm

Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo, the former US secretary of state, speaks to an audience at the 'American Freedom Tour' event in Memphis, Tennessee Credit: KAREN PULFER FOCHT

 

Mike Pompeo has been summoned by a Spanish court to testify over claims the US plotted to assassinate Julian Assange.

 

Judge Santiago Pedraz, of Spain's National Court, is leading an investigation into whether Spanish security firm UC Global spied on Mr Assange while providing security for the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the Australian resided between 2012 and 2019.

 

A spokesman for Spain's National Court told The Telegraph that Judge Pedraz had sent a request to US authorities to call the former US secretary of state as a witness.

 

"There has been no reply as yet," the spokesman added.

 

The alleged plot was first revealed by Yahoo News last November. The outlet reported that senior CIA and Trump administration officials discussed the possibility of kidnapping or killing Mr Assange after being angered by WikiLeaks' 2017 publication of CIA hacking tools.

 

Discussions took place at the "highest levels" of the Trump administration, according to the report.

 

Mr Pompeo was the director of the CIA under Donald Trump from 2017 to 2018, when the Republican president appointed him as secretary of state.

 

Lawyers representing Mr Assange in Spain, including the former judge Baltasar Garzón, allege that the US "orchestrated" the espionage effort against the activist, with UC Global placing microphones and cameras in the embassy to spy on his private conversations and meetings.

 

Mr Assange is set to appeal the decision taken last week by Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, to extradite him to the US, where he faces espionage charges and a potential 175-year jail sentence.

 

‘Shift’ in Australian government handling of case

 

The wife of Mr Assange believes there has been a noticeable "shift" in the Australian government's handling of her husband's case since the country elected a Labor leader last month.

 

Stella Assange, who shares two children with Mr Assange, said Australia "can and should be speaking to its closest ally to bring this matter to a close", calling the case an "aberration" that criminalises journalism.

 

However, Anthony Albanese, the Australian Prime Minister, on Monday rejected calls from Mr Assange's supporters for him to publicly demand the US drop its prosecution of the WikiLeaks founder, who is an Australian citizen.

 

Mark Dreyfus, the Attorney General and Foreign Minister Penny Wong responded to the British government's decision by saying Assange's "case has dragged on for too long and … should be brought to a close."

 

They said they would continue to express that view to the UK and US governments, but their joint statement fell short of calling for the United States to drop the case.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/06/20/mike-pompeo-summoned-testify-claims-us-plotted-assassinate-julian/