The Strategist

France Rebuffs Assange



07/03/2015 - 16:25



France has refused Assange’s request of political asylum due to the absence of danger to his life, and the warrant for his arrest.



Espen Moe - originally posted to Flickr
Espen Moe - originally posted to Flickr
France on Friday, July 3, refused a request of the founder of Wikileaks Internet platform Julian Assange to grant him asylum. According to the administration of the French president, "there’s no direct threat to the life of Mr. Assange's". Also, the European warrant issued for his arrest was taken into notice.

Earlier in the day, Monde newspaper published an open letter of Julian Assange's request for asylum in France.

In a letter to Francois Hollande, WikiLeaks founder tells his story and says that the US government persecuted him because of journalistic revelations.

- Only France now can give me the necessary protection from political persecution (...) My life is in danger, Mr. President, and my safety, both physical and psychological, is getting more and more under threat every day "- said Assange.

June 25, the head of the French Ministry of Justice Christiane Taubira said that Assange would be granted asylum in France. However, she stressed that the president or the prime minister should take the decision on this matter.

Since last week, the Internet platform Wikileaks places materials about economic espionage, which the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States led against a number of large enterprises in France.

- Liberation and Mediapart, in cooperation with WikiLeaks, reveal how the NSA encroached on the commercial interests of France, - says the material on the newspaper’s website.

The publication, citing the WikiLeaks, claimed that US intelligence agencies led large-scale spying on French companies, the leadership of the Ministry of Economy, as well as the conclusion of major transactions and contacts with international organizations in Paris.

The intelligence’s work was aimed at gathering all the information of of the French trade relations worthy any interest, Parisian liaisons with the international financial institutions, G8 and G20, as well as the major foreign contracts of French companies, in particular those whose value exceeded $ 200 million.

- A big part of the strategic sectors has become NSA’s goal: information technology, electricity, gas, oil, nuclear power, transportation, biotechnology and others, - says the publication. The authors note that about a hundred French companies could get in the sphere of interests of intelligence, and that NSA provided US authorities with the biggest part of the information gathered.

Assange has been hiding in the Embassy of Ecuador in London from extradition to Sweden for already more than two years, where he is accused of sexual harassment. However, Assange fears that Sweden will extradite him to US, where he will appear before the court for disclosure of US secret documents.

source: theguardian.com