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This week the objective was to insert mention of Julian Assange into a meeting between Mexico's president and the United States' top diplomat. Next week, it will be to have Australia's prime minister bring it up with the U.S. president at Queen Elizabeth II's funeral. The efforts are part of the campaign by John Shipton, father of the WikiLeaks founder, to find allies and convince the U.S. to drop espionage charges against Assange, who remains in a British prison awaiting extradition to the U.S. The journey by the septuagenarian Australian architect together with another son, Gabriel, brought them this week to Mexico. The country has become the family's main ally in Latin America since President Andrs Manuel Lpez Obrador offered Assange political asylum and called for the U.S. to allow him to seek refuge there. We call President Lpez Obrador an ice-breaker, because afterward the leaders of Chile, Colombia and Bolivia called for his release too, Gabriel Shipton said during the visit
Britain's High Court is set to rule Monday on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can take his fight against US extradition to the UK Supreme Court. The decision is the latest step in Assange's long battle to avoid being sent to the United States to face espionage charges over WikiLeaks' publication of classified documents more than a decade ago. Just over a year ago, a district court judge in London rejected a US extradition request on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if held under harsh US prison conditions. US authorities later provided assurances that the WikiLeaks founder would not face the severely restrictive conditions that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk. Last month the High Court overturned the lower court's decision. High Court justices Ian Burnett and Timothy Holroyd said the American promises were enough to guarantee Assange would be treated humanely. They said the US promises were solemn undertakings, offered