‘Far from well’: Julian Assange’s health deteriorating in prison, court hears

Julian Assange is “far from well”, his lawyer told a London court today, amid claims the imprisoned WikiLeaks founder is so ill he can barely speak.

Julian Assange missed his hearing at a London court today, with his lawyers saying his health has deteriorated so severely in prison that he can hardly hold a conversation.

Gareth Pierce said the WikiLeaks founder was “far from well” as he failed to appear via video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court as expected.

Senior district judge Emma Arbuthnot said the case will now be heard on 12 June and may take place in Belmarsh Prison if convenient for all parties.

WikiLeaks earlier said in a statement that it had “grave concerns” about the condition of its founder, who had “dramatically lost weight” ahead of his scheduled court date and had been “moved to the health ward” of the prison.

After seven weeks at the high-security prison in south-east London, Assange was in such a poor state last Friday it was “impossible to conduct a normal conversation with him”, said defence lawyer Per Samuelson.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven into Southwark Crown Court in London, before being sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012. Picture: Daniel Leal-Olivas / AFP

The Australian computer programmer was arrested at London’s Ecuadorean embassy in April, after spending seven years holed up there to avoid charges against him. WikiLeaks said his health “significantly deteriorated” during this time, “under conditions that were incompatible with basic human rights.”

WikiLeaks said the detention of the 47-year-old and treatment of him since his arrest “presents serious questions about the UK’s standing as a human rights-abiding nation.”

Assange is set to appear at Westminster Court on Thursday for a formal hearing on the extradition request by the Trump administration.

US authorities are seeking to extradite Assange on charges relating to the public release by WikiLeaks of a cache of secret documents, and last week unveiled 17 new criminal charges against him, including espionage.

The charges relate to the 2010 publication of thousands of military and diplomatic documents by WikiLeaks.

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. - See full statement: pic.twitter.com/HnZVks4kWj

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 29, 2019

A Swedish prosecutor this month separately filed a request for Assange to be detained for a 3 June hearing about a rape allegation. The Uppsala district court rejected his lawyer’s efforts to postpone the hearing until they had time to “go through the issues in peace and quiet”.

Sweden reopened the rape investigation, which Assange denies, in early May. It was begun in 2010 but dropped in 2017 while Assange was in refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy.

If the court order is granted, it would be the first step in a process to have Assange extradited from Britain, where he is serving a 50-week sentence for skipping bail when he entered the embassy in 2012.

The British courts will have to rule on the two extradition requests, with the home secretary having the final say on which one takes precedence.

— With wires