Julian Assange’s dad makes cash dash to Europe

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has ‘dramatically lost weight’ amid revelations he is yet to be interviewed by Swedish authorities over rape allegations.

EXCLUSIVE

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is yet to be interviewed by Swedish authorities since they reopened a rape investigation into allegations against him, his father has revealed.

John Shipton, 74, has travelled to Europe to support his son and raise money for his defence.

He arrived to news that Assange’s legal team had failed in their attempt to delay next Monday’s hearing into his Swedish rape allegations.

Assange has been moved to the health ward at London’s maximum security Belmarsh prison, his supporters say.

The group said in a statement this morning that he had “dramatically lost weight” ahead of a court appearance via video link on Thursday.

“WikiLeaks has grave concerns about the state of health of our publisher Julian Assange who has been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison,” a statement said.

“During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate.”

The hearing is a case management hearing for a United Staes extradition bid.

The group again complained about a Swedish hearing on Monday about a rape claim, which Assange sought asylum for in 2012 in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

He was arrested last month and has been sentenced to 50 weeks jail for breaching bail.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London. Picture: AFP

Swedish defence lawyer Per Samuelson said he had visited Assange in London’s Belmarsh prison last week after which he had sought to have the hearing postponed on medical grounds.

“One of the reasons is that Assange’s health situation on Friday was such that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him,” Mr Samuelson said.

The 47-year-old Australian, who was arrested in London last month, returns to the Westminster Magistrates Court on Thursday for the latest instalment in the United States’ separate bid to extradite him there.

Julian Assange's father, John Shipton, in Brussels. Picture: Ella Pellegrini

The 18 US charges — relating to the public release of cache of secret documents — carry a maximum 175-year jail term.

Mr Shipton, who has travelled to Europe to meet wealthy supporters, said his son wanted to clear his name of the rape allegation, which he has repeatedly denied.

“Julian has done two interviews with the Swedish before and Julian has offered over the six years that he was in the Ecuadorean embassy that he would go to Sweden as long as he doesn’t get forwarded to the United States,” he said.

The process has been “very peculiar,” he added.

Swedish prosecutors reopened a rape investigation into Assange this month at the request of the alleged victim.

Julian Assange’s father says the Swedish investigation has been “very peculiar”. Picture: Getty

According to British court documents from 2011, the woman alleged that Assange had sex with her without a condom despite her request for him to wear one.

She accused him of holding her arms down to prevent her from getting a condom, the court documents alleged.

A lawyer for the alleged victim said this month that she wanted justice.

Assange had met the woman after he delivered a lecture in Sweden in August 2010.

Mr Shipton, who is travelling with his four-year old daughter — Assange’s half-sister — said that his son had been treated unfairly by the British courts.

“There is resentment of an Australian made good,” he said.

Mr Shipton said that he was yet to see Assange.

“He only gets two social visits a month so I’m in the queue,” he said.

“He has to wait for the phone and he has to ask to go to the library to use the internet.”

Julian Assange is currently being held in Belmarsh prison. Picture: AFP

Assange sought asylum at the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012 after failing to answer bail.

He was finally arrested in April after the Ecuadorean Government invited British police into the embassy.

Assange is currently serving a 50-week jail term for breaching that bail, which Judge Deborah Taylor said in sentencing had delayed the investigation into the rape claim.

The United States last week added an extra 17 charges to its extradition application, claiming he had breached the Espionage Act.

If convicted in the United States he could face up to 175 years in prison — 10 years for each of the 17 charges under the Espionage Act and five years for the initial computer hacking charge.

Former Australian Foreign Secretary Bob Carr claimed the potential sentence was excessive and may cause diplomatic tensions between Australia and the United States.

The charges related to Wikileaks release of tens of thousands of classified US government documents, including many about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US indictment claimed that Assange, who was leaked the information by former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, published the names of confidential sources.

The publication put the sources lives at risk, the US indictment claimed.

Lawyers for Assange expect that the US extradition hearing will take up to two years.

Assange was likely to remain in custody after his 50-week sentence because of the Swedish arrest warrant.