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Mexico's President Offers Asylum to Julian Assange After U.S. Extradition Denied
Posted
January 5, 2021
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0:52Now PlayingMexico's President on Monday welcomed the rejection by a British judge of the United States' request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on espionage charges and offered him political asylum and protection in Mexico.
Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that he his country will approach authorities in the UK to enquire about "the possibility that Mr. Assange is released and for Mexico to offer him political asylum."
British judge Vanessa Baraitser rejected the defense's arguments that the founder of WikiLeaks is a persecuted political figure or that he would not receive a fair trial in the United States, but denied extradition because she believed that his precarious mental health could worsen in conditions of "almost total isolation" in a U.S. prison and he might commit suicide.
Mexico has a long history of providing asylum, but Lopez Obrador pointed out that accepting it also implies the responsibility of taking care that the recipient of the asylum does not intervene in the political affairs of any country.
If it materializes, this offer could become a sticking point between Mexico and the United States since U.S. prosecutors have charged Assange with 17 counts of espionage and one count of misuse of computers carrying a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Assange, who was released on bail in 2012, took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London which was his residence for seven years until his expulsion and subsequent arrest.
He has been held in a London prison since April 2019.
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