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- The extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States was blocked by a British judge, who said he was at risk of suicide.
- The United States is seeking Assange extradited to face espionage charges for his involvement in publishing secret documents online.
- Assange was placed in pretrial detention until his bail could be applied.
Mexico offered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange political asylum on Monday after a British judge blocked his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges.
“I am going to ask the foreign minister to carry out the pertinent procedures to request that the government of the United Kingdom release Mr. Assange and that Mexico offer him political asylum,” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters.
US prosecutors, on the reverse of the sentence, indicated that they will appeal. Attorney Edward Fitzgerald said he would request bail for Assange on Wednesday, pending that appeal.
A British judge ruled on Monday that Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face espionage charges for posting secret documents online, and found that he was at risk of suicide.
District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said the extradition of the Australian publisher would be “oppressive because of mental damage and ordered his release.”
He said that if detained in the United States, Assange “faces the grim prospect of severely restrictive detention conditions designed to eliminate physical contact and reduce social interaction and contact with the outside world to a minimum.”
In his ruling, he said:
You face these perspectives as someone with a diagnosis of clinical depression and persistent thoughts of suicide.
“I am satisfied that the risk of Assange killing himself is substantial.”
US and UK prosecutors can appeal
Assange was placed in pre-trial detention pending a request for bail, which could take place later on Monday.
The 49-year-old wiped his forehead when the decision was announced as his fiancee Stella Moris broke down in tears. It was hosted by WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, after he was arrested by Metropolitan Police officers.
Getty Images PHOTO: Victoria Jones / PA Images via Getty Images
Outside the Old Bailey court in central London, Assange supporters who had been gathering since early morning cheered and shouted: “Free Assange!”
However, US and British prosecutors can appeal Baraitser’s ruling.
Assange and his legal team have long argued that the protracted case, which has become a notorious cause for media freedom, was politically motivated.
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