The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has received this Thursday the father and brother of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange at the National Palace, to whom he has shown his support.
I received John and Gabriel Shipton, father and brother, respectively, of Julian Assange, whom we will continue defending, because he is a political prisoner and his case is an unacceptable offense to freedom of expression,» the Mexican president said through his Twitter profile.
In addition to showing his support for Assange, López Obrador has not revealed details about the meeting with the family. This is not the first time that the Mexican president has met with the family of the detainee, who has also spoken in favor of his release and urged the US government to drop the charges against him.
Assange faces 18 criminal charges in the United States and will have to answer for espionage accusations if he is finally transferred to the North American country. He faces a total of 175 years behind bars, although the U.S. government says he would likely be sentenced to between four and six years.
The activist has remained imprisoned in the UK since April 2019, when he was arrested after nearly seven years held at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. The Wikileaks founder initially took refuge in the Embassy to avoid his possible extradition to Sweden, where he was also under investigation, and fearing that it was a first step towards the United States.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
