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Title: Julian Assange misses his US extradition hearing because he's 'too ill to speak' - hours after he was moved to Belmarsh prison hospital wing amid 'grave concerns' for his health
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URL Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar ... arsh-prison-losing-weight.html
Published: May 30, 2019
Author: staff
Post Date: 2019-05-30 17:48:35 by Horse
Keywords: None
Views: 75
Comments: 2
Julian Assange failed to appear at court today because he is 'not very well' WikiLeaks yesterday said its founder's health has deteriorated They claim he was incapable of holding a basic conversation with his lawyer Assange is serving 50 weeks in HMP Belmarsh for skipping bail in 2012 The next hearing is on June 12 and is likely they will visit him at Belmarsh Julian Assange was today too ill to appear in court for a US extradition hearing over hacking and espionage charges. The Wikileaks founder is said to have suffered 'dramatic weightloss' and continued ill health since being jailed for 50 weeks for skipping bail back in 2012. He has been moved to the hospital wing of Belmarsh prison amid 'grave concerns' for his health after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador's London embassy. WikiLeaks said last night that his health had deteriorated so much that he is now incapable of even holding a conversation. His lawyer Gareth Peirce appeared on behalf of Assange at Westminster Magistrates' Court today and said: 'He is not that well which we notified the court about.' Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot replied: 'No he is not very well, it may be that the [next] hearing takes place at Belmarsh. 'It may be more convenient to everybody if it's there.' Ms Peirce told the court that they have indicated that they may have an application, but did not specify in open court what it would be. Ms Arbuthnot said: 'The Assange case will be held on June 12. There may be a day either side of that.' Assange is also facing rape allegations, which he denies, after the case was reopened by prosecutors in Sweden earlier this month. n a statement on his health, WikiLeaks said: '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. 'Mr Assange's health had already significantly deteriorated after seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, under conditions that were incompatible with basic human rights.' Wikileaks added: 'During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight. 'The decision of prison authorities to move him to the ward speaks for itself.' The statement added: 'Defence lawyer for Assange, Per Samuelson said that Julian Assange's health state last Friday was such 'that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him.' Speaking after the hearing today Bafta-winning documentary maker John Pilger, who described himself as a friend of Assange, said: 'He couldn't appear today because he was unwell. 'He's in the prison hospital. When I saw him a couple of weeks ago he wasn't very well then. 'But then he's been in an embassy in a confined space without natural light for almost seven years. It comes just a day before the WikiLeaks founder is due to appear in court for a hearing on his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges He needs a great deal of diagnostic care and rehabilitation. He's gone through an extraordinary physical and mental ordeal. 'And now he's having to go through this. This is so shameful, so shameful that we are even here today to consider the extradition of a journalist for trying to protect his sources.' Mr Pilger described the case in Sweden as 'bogus'. The US extradition request comes after authorities brought charges for hacking 750,000 classified documents. Assange formally refused to consent to being extradited during a hearing which lasted a little over 10 minutes on May 2. Last Thursday, the Trump administration ramped up extradition efforts by inditing Assange on espionage charges for publishing classified military documents. Assange sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 after the leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables on his whistleblowing website. He took refuge inside after exhausting all legal options in fighting extradition to Sweden over two separate claims, one of rape and one of molestation. Also this month, the Ecuadorian government confirmed officials were searching through Assange's belongings left at its embassy following a request from the United States. In a statement published online, the Ecuadorian government said the search was to identify and confiscate belongings of Assange that could offer clues to possible criminal activity. The search was being carried out under the authorisation of a judge and following a request for judicial assistance from the US, the statement said. Just days later, Assange was charged in the United States with receiving and publishing thousands of classified documents linked to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Justice Department has indicted Assange on 18 counts that relate to his 'alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States', it said. He is accused of working with former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 'unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defence', a statement said. The Justice Department said that by publishing unredacted versions of the leaked files, Assange put 'named human sources at a grave and imminent risk'. After a federal grand jury returned the indictment, WikiLeaks swiftly issued a tweet describing the move as 'madness'. Last week, Home Secretary Sajid Javid was urged by WikiLeaks to block Assange's extradition to the US in the name of press freedom. The organisation said Mr Javid was under 'enormous pressure to protect the rights of the free press in the UK and elsewhere' after its founder was hit with the raft of new charges by the US Department of Justice. Assange is serving a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in London for bail violations. MailOnline has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.
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#1. To: Horse (#0)
I was pretty sure this would happen before he had any chance to speak in front of a Congressional Committee...
Those rape charges in Sweden are bogus. He had sex with a woman but did not use a condom. She never did get a disease. He spent 7 years confines in a small room to avoid extradition to Sweden and then the US.
The Truth of 911 Shall Set You Free From The Lie
"After tomorrow those SOB's will never embarrass me again. That’s not a threat. That’s a promise.” – LBJ to his mistress Madeleine Brown on the eve of JFK assassination 
#2. To: FormerLurker (#1)
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