Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said during his daily press briefing that Mexico is prepared to offer political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The offer comes shortly after UK Judge Vanessa Baraitser denied an extradition request by the US government on the grounds that Assange would not be prevented from committing suicide in our prison system.
Anuncia el Presidente que México le ofrece asilo político a Julián Assange el fundador de @wikileaks y con ello logra el doble propósito de poner elemento distractor en la agenda nacional y claramente incomodará a la administración Biden. pic.twitter.com/GLAGllNlNJ
— Rodrigo Pacheco (@Rodpac) January 4, 2021
The US prosecutors have 14 days to appeal the judge’s decision and has said that they plan to do so.
“I’m satisfied that Mr. Assange has the intellect and determination to circumvent the suicide prevention measures, as Professor Kopelman posted, Mr. Assange would not only find a way to suicide, but he it will be executed with the single-minded determination of his ASD/Asperger’s,” the judge said in her ruling on Monday. “Facing conditions of mere total isolation, and without the protective factors which mitigate his risks at HMP Belmarsh, I am satisfied that the US procedures would not prevent Mr. Assange from committing suicide.
“For those reasons, I’ve decided that extradition would be oppressive by reason of Mr. Assange’s mental health and I order his discharge under section 91 of the extradition act 2003. The United States has 14 days to appeal,” the judge concluded.
President Obrador called for Assange to be released last January, to end his torture in detention.
“I don’t know if he has recognized that he acted against rules and norms of a political system, but at the time these cables demonstrated how the world system functions in its authoritarian nature,” Lopez Obrador said in response to a question about Assange at a regular government news briefing last year. “Hopefully consideration will be given to this, and he’s released and won’t continue to be tortured.”
Assange’s lawyers are attempting to get him released from prison now, despite the appeal window, and a bail hearing has been set for Wednesday.