By Alonso Urrutia and Néstor Jiménez on January 4, 2021
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced today that his government will offer political asylum to Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose extradition to the United States was rejected today by a British judge.
At his morning conference, the president said he would ask Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard to take steps with the United Kingdom “to ensure that Mr Assange is released and that Mexico offers him political asylum”.
“I welcome” the British decision, said the President. “I believe that it is a triumph of justice”.
Assange is being held in a maximum security prison in London. He was arrested in April 2019 at the embassy of Ecuador in the British capital.
The Ecuadorian mission had granted asylum in 2012 to the founder of Wikileaks to avoid his detention, under an Interpol request, following allegations of rape in Sweden, as part of an investigation that was later withdrawn.
Mexico will grant Assange refuge with what “means the right of asylum in our tradition, which is protection and at the same time responsibility to ensure that the recipient does not interfere in the political affairs of other countries.”
“I am glad that the UK has acted in this way, because (Assange) is a journalist and deserves a chance. I am in favor of him being pardoned,” he said.
For López Obrador, it was a good decision, but now he needs to be pardoned, in other words, “Pardon for Mr. Assange, and asylum in Mexico, we are going to give him protection”.
The United States accused Assange of conspiring with former US soldier Bradley Manning (now Chelsea Manning) in 2010 and with others between 2007 and 2015 to illegally obtain and publish secret information on Wikileaks.
Assange was also charged with obtaining national defense information, disclosure of information, and conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, for which the United States is demanding his extradition.
Source: La Jornada, translation Resumen Latinoamericano, North America bureau