I cannot believe the stunning inability for people to understand that laws are not based on some sort of immutable, objective moral code but are invented by human beings. Do you think Harriet Tubman was a bad person because she helped those who violated the law? Would you have contacted the authorities immediately when you saw an escaped slave, due to their violation of the law?
America regularly support people who are charged with normal crimes that have obvious political undertones, as they should. This is an unmitigated good.
Example: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Guangcheng
Other popular examples exist. These cases are also often very polarizing for the people of the country who is claimed to have been the victim of some political crime.
Note the definition of political crime ( https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/political%20crime ) exactly makes the link: “political offenses … exclude any possibility of extradition.”
What makes up a political crime? By definition it can be subjective but some entire categories are usually included.
On the one hand, Assange is considered by many to be a journalist doing journalistic things, while others argue he committed espionage doing political things as some kind of spy. Prosecution for either is usually considered a political persecution worthy of asylum.
Ecuador granted Assange political asylum because of the U.S. investigation into Assange for his publications that were in the public interest.
This is most certainly false. A crime is a violation of a law. Laws are passed by groups of people, not handed down by some infinitely wise and just being. For example, in many African nations, it is illegal to be gay. Would someone imprisoned for the "crime" of being gay be justified in escaping? Would Julian Assange be justified in escaping his dungeon for exposing the crimes of the US government?