Alicia Barcena Ibarra, head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE), celebrated on the morning of this Tuesday, June 25, on social networks the release by Australian activist and journalist Julian Assangewho spent more than five years in a United Kingdom prison accused of sexual crimes by Sweden and of espionage by the government of USAwhich also required its extradition.
“I celebrate with President López Obrador the release of Julian Assange, who resisted 1901 days of a tragic offense. Our president pleaded for his freedom before the presidents trump and before Biden based on the right of free Pressirreplaceable pillar of democracy,” said the chancellor citing the publication that AMLO did in X on the subject on Monday afternoon.
The Australian journalist and activist founded Wikileaks in 2006 and four years later leaked images that showed American soldiers executing 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq; In addition, he published classified United States documents on military interventions in that country and in Afghanistan. That same year They arrested him in the United Kingdom because the Swedish justice system was looking for him for allegedly raping a woman and harassing another in that country, for which asylum in 2012 in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
Eight years later, the South American country took away his asylum and they arrested him when leaving said diplomatic headquarters both at the request of Sweden but also of the United States, since it accused him of computer crimes (conspiracy to commit a computer intrusion for having accepted steal a password to enter a classified computer of the US government), according to a statement from the Justice Department United States; For this reason, they also requested his extradition.
Assange was imprisoned from then until June 25, as he reached a agreement with the US government to go free if he declared himself guilty of espionage. He was sentenced to 62 months in prison (which he has already fulfilled) and was taken to his native Australia, although first he must appear before a Court of the Northern Mariana Islandswhich are part of the United States territory.
Throughout these years, journalists, activists, civil organizations and presidents, including López Obrador, joined the demand to free the activist, who they claimed was only exercising his right to freedom of expression. Regarding the Mexican president, AMLO sent two lettersone for the former president donald trump and another for his successor, Joe Biden. “I consider that in addition to being a injusticethis case affects the image of the United States in the world. I have expressed it on other occasions; “The Statue of Liberty should not remain an empty symbol,” reads one of them addressed to the Democratic president.
In addition to the above, in 2023 AMLO also received in our country John and Gabriel Shipton, father and brother of Julian Assangeto whom he reiterated his commitment to continue defending the innocence of the founder of Wikileaks. “He is a political prisoner and your case is unacceptable violation of freedom of expression“, declared the president of Mexico on April 20 of last year.
