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Mexico is offering political asylum to US whistleblower Julian Assange, while the United States is “extremely disappointed.”
18.57, January 04, 2021
Mexico wants the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange offer political asylum. Assange deserved a chance and should be forgiven, said the Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Monday. A London court had previously rejected Assange’s extradition request to the United States. The United States was “extremely disappointed” by this.
The State Department must initiate the appropriate procedure and inform the British government about the asylum offer, López Obrador said. The president emphasized that he supported Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s decision to reject the US request. At the same time, he called on the British government to release Assange. The Mexican head of state and government is a left-wing populist and nationalist who has gotten along well with the outgoing US President Donald Trump. Mexico has always been a haven for leftists in the past.
Judge Baraitser justified his decision with Assange’s mental health and prison conditions, that he would await him at trial on espionage charges in the United States. Hopefully he will commit suicide in solitary confinement.
“He will continue to fight for extradition”
Washington reacted angrily. The Justice Ministry said the government was “extremely disappointed” with the London court’s decision. “We will continue our efforts to extradite Mr. Assange to the United States,” he said. The United States was expected to appeal the verdict.
Lawyers for the WikiLeaks founder requested bail. The London court will decide on Wednesday, Judge Baraitser announced.
Secret material stolen and published
The American judiciary indicts Australian native Assange, along with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, then Bradley Manning. Secret material stolen from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and published to have. It involves hundreds of thousands of documents. The 49-year-old man put the lives of American informants at risk, hence the accusation. Yet his supporters see him as an investigative journalist who has exposed war crimes. Assange would have threatened up to 175 years in prison if convicted.
Supporters of the 49-year-old man celebrated the judge’s decision with jubilation and leaps of joy. Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, with whom he has two young children, burst into tears following the verdict in court. “Today’s victory is a first step toward justice in this case,” Moris said. But it is still too early to celebrate. You will only make up for it when your partner is free. He still feared that the United States would continue to persecute his partner relentlessly. She asked the United States government to stop the case against Assange. The lawyer has been in a relationship with Assange since 2015, the couple have two children.
The situation remains “catastrophic”
The co-founder of the WikiLeaks disclosure platform, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, welcomed the decision, but noted that Assange’s situation was still “catastrophic”. “The verdict hasn’t changed anything about that.” If the British judge is referring to prison conditions in America, then he should “look in the mirror.” In Britain conditions are not much better, said Assange’s former comrade on the German publishing network (RND / Tuesday).
Enchanted greens
In Austria, the Greens welcomed the court decision and expressed the expectation that Assange would be released as soon as possible and receive adequate medical care. In a broadcast, human rights spokesperson Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic was also “surprised that the question of the legitimacy of Assange’s investigative and journalistic actions did not influence the reasons for the verdict.”
Journalists Club criticizes the reasons for the sentence
The Austrian Journalists Club (ÖJC) was also pleased by the non-extradition of the Wikileaks founder, but criticized the reasons for the verdict. It was “ultimately a massive attack on press freedom,” as the decision was justified only by Assange’s health, he said in a broadcast.
The human rights organization International Amnesty He also welcomed the verdict but criticized the fact that the charges against the Wikileaks founder should not have been brought and spoke of a “politically motivated process” at the behest of the United States.
According to the judge, not for political reasons
However, the judge made it clear Monday that the case was not politically motivated. Assange’s behavior went beyond the normal behavior of an investigative journalist. He was aware of the danger to informants when he did not hide their names in published documents. There is also no evidence that the administration of US President Donald Trump has put pressure on prosecutors, he said.
In 2012, Ecuador granted Assange political asylum. The Wikileaks founder spent seven years at the country’s embassy in London before Ecuador withdrew the asylum offer in 2019. Assange was arrested and is currently in a UK maximum security prison.
