Key Points
- Mr Lopez Obrador renewed an offer of asylum for Mr Assange, who is fighting for extradition.
- Mexico's leftist leader delivered a letter to Mr Biden when he visited Washington last week.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador says he interceded with United States President Joe Biden on behalf of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, insisting that he had committed no serious crime.
Mr Lopez Obrador renewed an offer of asylum for Mr Assange, who is fighting extradition by the United Kingdom to the United States, where he could face decades in jail for allegedly violating the US Espionage Act.
Mexico's leftist leader delivered a letter to Mr Biden when he visited Washington last week "explaining that Assange did not commit any serious crime," he told reporters on Monday.
United States President Joe Biden, (second from right), with Mexico's President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, (second from left), in the Oval Office of the White House on 12 July, 2022. Source: AAP, AP / Susan Walsh
Imprisoning the 51-year-old Australian publisher would amount to an "affront to freedom of expression," he said, adding that he had yet to receive a response from Mr Biden.
Mr Assange could face up to 175 years in jail if found guilty of violating the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010 related to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The UK government last month approved his extradition to the US, prompting an appeal.
Supporters portray Mr Assange as a martyr to press freedom after he was taken into UK custody and put in a high-security prison having spent seven years at Ecuador's embassy in London.
