Assange Austrailian Passport ←— (Last October)

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/02/22/pass-f22.html

Authorities confirm Assange’s Australian passport was renewed last October

By James Cogan

22 February 2019

The Sydney Morning Herald reported overnight that the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) confirmed to a parliamentary committee this week that it renewed the passport of Australian citizen and WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange in October 2018.

According to the Herald, Jennifer Robinson, who has served as one of Assange’s legal representatives for over eight years, submitted an application to renew his expired passport in “mid-2018.”

DFAT initially refused to process the application, according to the Herald. It reportedly informed Assange:

“Specifically, we understand you may be the subject of an arrest warrant in connection with a ‘serious foreign offence” within the meaning of section 13 of the Australian Passports Act 2005…. In order to progress your application, we require confirmation that section 13 is not enlivened by your circumstances. To this end, we ask that you provide us with confirmation that section 13 no longer applies to you. Until this time, your passport application will remain on hold.”

Julian Assange

The implication is that DFAT’s decision to renew the passport several months later was based on an assessment that Julian Assange is “not the subject of an arrest warrant in connection with a ‘serious foreign offence.’”