Julian Assange’s brother says WikiLeaks founder is ‘suffering’ with health ‘deteriorating’ in prison

Wikileaks founder is wanted on 18 charges by the US government

Julian Assange’s brother has revealed the state of the WikiLeaks founder’s health in prison (TalkTV)

Julian Assange’s brother has said the WikiLeaks founder’s health is deteriorating in Belmarsh Prison as he prepares to face his final bid for appeal against extradition to the US.

Assange, 51, has been held in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison for almost five years while US authorities seek to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges linked to the publication of hundreds of thousands of documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

In a January 2021 ruling, then-district judge Vanessa Baraitser said that Assange should not be extradited, but authorities in the US subsequently brought a successful challenge against this decision.

Lawyers for deeply controversial figure Assange will now ask for the go-ahead to challenge the original judge’s dismissal of other parts of his case against extradition.

Speaking as the hearing kicked off at the High Court, Assange’s brother, Gabriel Shipton, said the WikiLeaks founder was going through an “immense amount of suffering” while being held in prison and said his health was “deteriorating”.

Mr Shipton told TalkTV: “He’s suffering in there. He’s going through immense amount of suffering. He’s deteriorating, his health is in a very delicate position.”

Assange, 51, has been held in London’s high security Belmarsh Prison for almost five years while US authorities seek to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges (PA)

“Going to see him in prison is absolutely heartbreaking,” Mr Shipton added. “It’s really heartbreaking to see him in there for telling the truth.”

The Wikileaks founder is wanted on 18 charges by the US government, which accuses him of conspiring to hack into military databases to acquire sensitive information.

Speaking at a press conference last week, his wife Stella Assange said that if the appeal bid is unsuccessful, Assange would apply to the European Court of Human Rights for a Rule 39 order to stop extradition while it considers his case.

His supporters say the Australian national faces 175 years in prison if he is extradited.

During their earlier successful challenge, lawyers for the US authorities said Judge Baraitser’s decision risked becoming a “trump card” for anyone who wanted to oppose their extradition.

They also said that four “binding” diplomatic assurances had been made, including that the US would consent to Assange being transferred to Australia, where he was born, to serve any prison sentence he may be given.

The editor who worked closely with Julian Assange on the WikiLeaks story wrote HERE about his right to freedom.