Mexico said Monday that it was ready to offer political asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, after a UK court blocked his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges citing concerns over his "mental health and "risk of suicide".

Mexico President said he will ask the Foreign Affairs Ministry to contact British officials over the asylum offer and request that Assange be pardoned, reports Xinhua news agency.

The leftist leader welcomed the British court's rejection of the United States request to extradite the 49-year-old Australian publisher due to the risk of suicide, calling it a "triumph of justice." "Assange is a journalist and deserves a chance," he said. Assange is wanted on 18 charges in the United States relating to the 2010 release by WikiLeaks of 500,000 secret files detailing aspects of military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Whether Assange joins the list would depend on political pressures and the stances of the various actors and countries with an interest in his fate, Laborde said.

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