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WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain January 13, 2020. © REUTERS/Henry Nicholls |
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may die in a UK prison, having “effectively been tortured to death” claim “Doctors for Assange”, a group of 117 doctors from 18 countries, in a recent letter published in The Lancet, a leading medical journal.
The letter says that Assange requires urgent medical care, and has been exposed to “prolonged psychological torture”. The group once again asks for him to be moved to a university teaching hospital for medical assessment and treatment.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson on the other hand has claimed that Assange’s health is improving and he is no longer being held in solitary confinement. Hrafnsson spoke to journalists ahead of next week’s court hearing on the US extradition request.
Assange’s health has been worrying his supporters for a while now.
Nils Melzer, the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, visited Assange in prison in May 2019, and reported that the journalist showed “all the symptoms typical of prolonged exposure to psychological torture”.