WikiLeaks on Wednesday said it was gravely concerned for the health of its publisher, Julian Assange, and questioned Britain’s “standing as a human-rights abiding nation.”
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
WikiLeaks has condemned Britain for its treatment of Julian Assange, expressing “grave concerns” for the health of its publisher who has been transferred to the health ward of Belmarsh prison in London.
In a statement released on Twitter on Wednesday, the publication also condemned Ecuador for having created conditions “incompatible with basic human rights” for Assange, who had been granted asylum in its London embassy and remained there for seven years. He was cutoff the last year from the internet with only minimal visits permitted.
Assange is serving a 50-week sentence in the maximum-security prison for skipping bail in 2012 when he was wanted for questioning by Sweden on sexual assault allegations. That year he entered Ecuador’s embassy and remained there until British police were invited in to arrest Assange on April 11.
He had sought asylum fearing onward extradition from Sweden to the United States to face charges under the Espionage Act. As he had predicted, the U.S. filed an extradition request with Britain the day he was arrested, and last Thursday he was charged under the Espionage Act for possessing and disseminating classified information.
Britain had twice ignored rulings by the United Nations working group on arbitrary detention that the UK should let Assange free and pay him compensation. “The UK’s refusal to abide by UN rulings, and its subsequent treatment of Mr. Assange since his arrest, presents serious questions about the UK’s standing as a human rights-abiding nation,” WikiLeaks said in its statement.
Assange has been kept in isolation for 23 hours a day at Belmarsh, and has been allowed only a handful of visits from his lawyers. The UN’s special rapporteur for torture visited him with a doctor, who examined Assange, earlier this month. The rapporteur’s report has not yet been released.
“During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight,” WikiLeaks said.
News that Assange’s health had declined to the point that he had to be transferred to the prison hospital was first reported by the Swedish daily Upsala Nya Tidning, which quoted Assange’s Swedish lawyer, Per Samuelson, saying that his client was so ill that “a normal conversation with him was not possible.”
Samuelson had requested therefor that Swedish authorities postpone a June 3 hearing on a renewed Swedish extradition request to the UK on the sexual assault allegations, a request that was denied.
“We strongly condemn the refusal by the Swedish court to postpone a hearing on 3rd June on the basis of Mr. Assange’s health condition,” WikiLeaks said.
Here is the full statement from WikiLeaks.
Please sign our petition on “Action Station” demanding “Free Assange” . Hope we will get thousands of signatories.
Pleased to see so many good and decent people in these comments concerned and outraged about the inhuman treatment of a brave man, holding governments accountable for the heinous crimes perpetrated by our overseas “friends”? Do something and make your voice heard.
Sorry that was polonium – spell check
If Assange dies in a prison hospital of”naturak causes”, that would please many. No embarrassing trial, etc.
Amnesty International and Assange
https://www.mintpressnews.com/amnesty-international-hangs-julian-assange-out-to-dry-or-possibly-just-hang/258780/
If Assange does then we will take out those that put him where he is.
If Assange dies, then we will take out those who put him where he is.
$50,000 hit on Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno
If Assange dies, he will not have died in vain. His treatment makes clear for everyone who has eyes to see the nature of the regime in the U.S. and its satellites that he faces.
The United States is the one entity that is controlling – has been all through Julian’s incarceration in the Uruguay Embassy- how Julian is treated. Washington wants to make an example of him and therefore, making sure that he is treated harshly. The US, the country that invades and decimates countries that don’t have the wherewithall to fight back, is now torturing a journalist who got information on the internet and published it. The US is responsible for keeping its information secure, not the people of the world…why would they??
The horrific conditions of Julian’s time in Belmarsh prison is unconscionable, cruel and of course, against United Nations law…but when did the US or the UK ever follow international law??Both of them flaunt their disrespect. This is a situation that is making the rest of the world, especially Americans, hate the US and the UK…Uraguay is just an ignorant country governed by a useless US proxy.
Julian is being martyred
I recall when he first came on the public scene.
He was such an inspiration that I wrore his morher to thank her.
Let this man go … go back to Australia.
So he spoke truth to power.
Can the fear- mongers not handle anything but lies?
” De hava mig jagat som ulven i skog”
gustav froding
Assange was arrested the week before Holy Week. I guess they were avoiding the parallel. But nevertheless that parallel is obvious.
I believe Because the International Power Elite fear he will be judged not guilty of the rape charges in Sweden and not guilty in a US court because of Freedom of the Press they will be relived if he dies soon or is incapacitated.
In Sweden he will be allowed a political defense against extradition to the US and it won’t be that easy in the UK either.
I am worried about Julian’s health now from a reports he is hospitalized and worse.
But it seems I am right that he has a political defense in Sweden against extradition to the US. but if he dies or becomes incapacitated that won’t matter.
https://www.lawfareblog.com/will-united-states-be-able-extradite-assange
“In short, there are (to quote Jimmy Cliff) many rivers to cross before Assange finds himself standing trial in a U.S. courtroom.”
Jim
Sending all support to Julian. I’m really worried about him right now as it would be oh-so-convenient for the US and UK to have him die in prison without having to go to trial.
The brave men who spoke truth to power and paid with their lives: Danny Casolaro, Gary Webb, Michael Hastings. Lets not let Assange join that list.
This is the material of a Shakespearean tragedy. As long as Assange stayed out of the arenas of powerful rulers he was not only a tremendous asset for the world, he was safe. Once he decided that he could play/team with Putin and Trump in their court he exposed himself to being crushed by them.
There is no evidence that Russia hacked the DNC computers or that they sent the files to Assange. The FBI never looked at the computers and just took CrowdStrike at their word that Russia did the deed. No matter what Mueller stated in his report he cannot make that decision because he too never looked at what CrowdStrike said to determine if it was true.
Everything that you have heard about Russia interfering with the election is based on the 1/6/2017 intelligence report by Brennan who only stated that he believed that Russia did something, not that he provided any proof. If you’re a regular reader of this site then you know that Ray McGovern and others have stated unequivocally that the DNC computer information was leaked not hacked. Julian Assange and Craig Murray have both stated that the information did not come from Russia.
Besides the persecution of Assange has nothing to do with Russia Gate. This is being done because Wikileaks released information showing how the USA and its allies committed war crimes. The persecution of Assange started back in 2008 and way before Russia Gate was cooked up by people in Hillary’s campaign.
From what I can tell, there’s not a word about Julian’s condition in the New York Times or Washington
Post today, suggesting among other things, that the MSMs sudden support of the nature of his work goes
no further than self interest. No surprise here, right?!
It’s obvious that the liquidation is plan B.
And that Plan B is running.
They say Comrade Stalin said “no man, no problem”, but it was surely a nazi principle, not a Soviet one…
Seth Rich’s or Michael Hasting’s ghost could-a-tol ya…
I’m telling you – he’ll either 1) die of some ‘mysterious ailment’ in the UK prison, 2) be killed while conveniently trying to ‘escape’, 3) killed in a ‘prison riot’.
If either of those don’t happen, then I suspect he’ll be ‘disappeared’ within the US prison system, where he’ll be systematically tortured for a very long time.
There is a stunning absence of medical opinion here. Don’t they have Drs at Belmarsh? Surely they must either be seeing Julian in real, grave emergency, or certify him as healthy to appear in court. Why is there no imput from this source?
I’m not aware that Assange has had any scheduled court dates since his sentencing for the bail thing, or that he has any coming up soon.
I don’t think it’s the prison medical staff’s job to tell us all about his condition. (In fact, that would be improper, right?) It’s their job to take good care of him, and I hope they are.
David,
The US had an extradition hearing today. They canceled it because of his health. Sweden refuses to cancel their hearing even though Assange is sick and the legal requirement of having the legal papers written in a language Assange can understand has not been met.
The silence from Belmarsh and MSM is deafening. Don’t think the U.K. won’t kill him, along with the US. Killing people is all in an hour’s work for these nations “leaders”.
Didn’t Obama legalize targeted assassination under the NDAA?
And didn’t hactavist Aaron Schwartz” untimely “suicide” snuff the light he was shining and the momentum he was building against its authorization?
Yes. Obama’s supporters were in deep denial about “targeted assassinations” and the Kill List. Trump now fills it out.
https://opensociet.org/2019/05/30/how-our-psychological-vulnerabilities-are-exploited-to-control-us/
Here Lissa Johnson explains the propaganda techniques used to smear Assange in people’s minds. It’s much like Pavlov’s dogs conditioning people to associate unpleasant sensory experience with Assange.
I’ll take A Clockwork Orange for $200, Alex.
Having the media start its propaganda techniques started back in 2008 when this country decided to target Assange and Wikileaks. This was one reason that the two Swedish women accused Assange of ‘rape’. Assange and the two women had consensual sex, but they said that he didn’t wear a condom or that he futzed with it to cause it to break. One woman brought the police a condom that was torn, but it did not have his DNA on it.
Sweden has twice dropped the charges against him, but each time someone from the U.K. had them bring them up again.
Will he be, or has he been, poisoned in detention like Milosevic?
Poisoned with hallucinogens and interrogated…I guess I have grave grave concerns too.
Probably not, from the symptoms (weight loss, lack of attention). Like all political prisoners, he has probably refused to obey any order given by his jailers. Including refusing to eat their shit food. And like the resistors at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo, he has been “hospitalized” in order to be force fed. Anyway, English food is notoriously awful…
They’ve been torturing Assange, just as we’ve all known they would do. He’ll die of some mishap or infection or something accidentally on purpose and be martyrd.
The question is whether his martyrdom will spark some sort of fight against Big Brother, or will Mammon reign unchallenged by We the people.
Anthropocene is here.
I’m concerned that Julian has spiralled down so far into despair that he can’t climb out, that he can only see one exit. He need urgent hospitalization. This is so sad. Sending him all my love and affection
With recent support from MSM liars and deception artist community of disinformation worried for their own asses, I really now distrust more than ever Julian Assange’s jailers.
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/gary-d-barnett/the-predictable-fate-of-julian-assange-an-assault-against-liberty/
I hope being admitted to the prison hospital will provide some meaningful buffer for Assange from the abusive treatment that has shattered his health, at Belmarsh and before that at the embassy. If the prison medical staff are inclined and allowed to treat him like a normal patient, free from interference, he may recover quickly.
Agree.
This can’t be worse than sitting alone in a cell with no light, no contact.
Medical personnel are sworn to the Hippocratic oath.
Maybe there are some normal people with normal hearts working in Belmarsh health ward.
Perhaps hospital personnel actually don’t want Assange to “krepieren” on their watch.
Prosecution of Julian Assange is an all-out assault on freedom of speech. The liars hiding behind “national security” laws go free. This man suffers for us all.
The facts speak for themselves. Britain is a disgrace acting contrary to the rule of law and human rights as an outlaw handmaiden to an outlaw regime. Sweden has also destroyed its reputation by allowing itself to be used in this manner by that same regime.