Naples gives Assange honorary citizenship

The city of Naples on Friday gave honorary citizenship to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, currently held in London's Belmarsh Prison amid US efforts to extradite him under the espionage act for publishing classified information on Iraq and Afghanistan and diplomatic cables in 2010 and 2011, Azernews reports, citing ANSA.

Australian Assange, 52, was awarded the citizenship The parchment, together with the city's medal, as Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi presented them to Stella Moris, Assange's wife, during a solemn ceremony held in the Sala dei Baroni of the Maschio Angioino.

"This award symbolically represents an appeal from the city of Naples," said Manfredi, "a city that has always defended all freedoms.

"If we want to defend and strengthen democracies, we must defend the freedom of the press.

"We must always remember that a strong democracy is made by a strong press".

Turning to the room, Moris said: "I thank you all and ask you to keep fighting until Julian is free." Sixteen members of the US Congress including MAGA Republican and fierce Trump supporter Marjorie Taylor Greene and leftwing Democratic firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have written to President Joe Biden asking him to drop the exytradition bid.