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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange 'could die' in British jail: Doctors

Monday, 25 November 2019 4:56 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 November 2019 6:06 AM ]

In this file photo taken on May 01, 2019 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gestures from the window of a prison van as he is driven out of Southwark Crown Court in London. (AFP photo)

Over 60 doctors have written an open letter warning about the deteriorating health conditions of Julian Assange, the founder of whistleblowing website Wikileaks.

The 48-year-old Australian citizen is currently serving a 50-week sentence in a prison in the United Kingdom before he will be extradited to the United States on espionage charges related to his work.

In the letter to British Home Secretary Priti Patel released on Monday, the doctors said they feared Assange’s health was so bad that he could die while in jail.

The doctors said that he must be moved from the top-security Belmarsh prison in southeast London to a hospital.

"Mr. Assange requires urgent expert medical assessment of both his physical and psychological state of health," the doctors agreed in the letter.

"Were such urgent assessment and treatment not to take place, we have real concerns, on the evidence currently available, that Mr. Assange could die in prison. The medical situation is thereby urgent. There is no time to lose."

Julian Assange and Wikileaks

Whistleblowing website Wikileaks has been a thorn in the side of governments, armies and spy agencies for a decade by publishing secret papers online.

Assange used the organization to publish secret papers online, including classified military and diplomatic files in 2010 about US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq that proved highly embarrassing to the US government.

He was arrested in London after the Ecuadorian government revoked his asylum status due to pressure from Washington. The activist is still fighting the US bid to extradite him from Britain.

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