John Shipton and Gabriel Shipton, Julian Assange’s father and brother respectively, display a diploma awarded by Mexico’s Julian journalists’ club during an event sponsored by the Mexican ruling party Morena, at the Telefónica Union headquarters, titled “Freedom for Julian Asange: A Global Struggle ,” in Mexico City, on Wednesday, September 14, 2022 (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 9:40 PM PT – Thursday, September 15, 2022
On Wednesday, Mexican officials honored WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. They honored him by gifting Assange symbolic keys to Mexico City. They were presented during a tribute in recognition of Assange.
Entregamos las Llaves de la Ciudad a la familia de Julian Assange. Para nosotros Julian representa la verdad, la libertad de expresión. Somos una Ciudad progresista que siempre ha defendido las grandes libertades y el derecho al libre acceso a la información. pic.twitter.com/oEmViasEL3
— Dra. Claudia Sheinbaum (@Claudiashein) September 14, 2022
The city council only hands out this honor to people they consider to be distinguished visitors. Assange’s family accepted the accolade on his behalf due to this current imprisonment. His father, John Shipton spoke about the honor that was bestowed upon his son.
“It moved us almost to tears the generosity and the substance, the gifts of the keys to the city of Mexico,” he said. “This is as if Mexico City, like a mother hen, takes her cheeks under her wings to protect them.”
Mexico’s President offered asylum to the 51-year-old. Assange is fighting extradition to the United States. He is currently imprisoned in Britain.