Jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will become an honorary citizen of Rome by early next year following a vote this week by its local assembly, the city's former mayor Virginia Raggi said on Thursday.

cross-posted from: https://lemmus.org/post/1242124

Assange, 52, has been in London’s high-security Belmarsh prison since 2019 and is wanted in the United States over the release of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables in 2010.

“Assange is a symbol of free speech which is essential for any genuine democracy,” Raggi, who ran Rome’s city hall between 2016 and 2021, told Reuters.

“He has been deprived of his own liberty for years, in awful conditions, for doing his job as a journalist,” she said.

Other Italian cities have taken similar steps. The northern city of Reggio Emilia granted Assange citizenship last month, while Naples is set to follow shortly.

  • PugJesus
    0•1 year ago

    Lemmy, in general, is more vocally feminist and feminist-friendly than most communities, so the disparity is more stark. I expected better, I suppose.

    • Blackout
      1•1 year ago

      I don’t know about that. I see far more racist and prejudice views here than I ever did on Reddit as it would have been down voted rapidly or moderated before I’d get to it. Maybe not anymore with the mods leaving but I do get a good shocking opinion here daily.