FORMER US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been summoned by a Spanish court to explain an alleged CIA plot to assassinate Julian Assange in London. 

He has been asked to appear in connection with a probe into whether Spanish security firm UC Global spied on Mr Assange while providing security for the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Spanish National High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz summoned Pompeo along with former US counterintelligence official William Evanina as witnesses in the case. 

Mr Evanina has allegedly previously confessed to accessing security camera footage and audio recordings from inside the Ecuadorian embassy where Mr Assange lived for seven years until 2019. 

Mr Assange’s lawyer Aitor Martinez urged the court to summon the pair, claiming in court papers that the spying plot “would have been orchestrated from the United States.”

Mr Pompeo has not commented on the summons and it is unclear whether he will agree to appear at the hearing later this month. 

Revelations of the assassination plot were first revealed in an investigative report published by Yahoo News last year.

US spooks are alleged to have hatched their plan in the White House with Mr Pompeo, a former CIA director, said to have been the mastermind.

Labelling WikiLeaks a “non-hostile intelligence service” in 2017 made its employees and associates legitimate targets for CIA counterintelligence operations, it was suggested.  

A range of possible scenarios was presented for killing Mr Assange including shootouts on the streets of London, crashing a car into his vehicle or even shooting the tyres off a plane taking him to Russia.

Another plan, according to one intelligence official, was to “break into the embassy, drag [Assange] out and bring him to where we want.”

According to the Yahoo report, US officials asked their British counterparts to support the plans. 

A former senior administration official claimed that the British agreed to help eliminate Mr Assange, although US sources have denied this.

The British government and intelligence services have remained tight-lipped over the allegations, failing to respond to requests to either confirm or deny involvement.

Mr Assange faces deportation to the US and a sentence of 175 years behind bars under the draconian Espionage Act. 

The decision lies with Britain’s Home Secretary Priti Patel following years of legal wrangling.

Press freedom organisations and human rights groups argue that he is being punished for his journalism and exposing war crimes committed by the US and other world powers.