Julian Assange’s wife pleads against extradition ahead of decisive hearing

The founder of WikiLeaks is imprisoned in Belmarsh Prison, London. He is contesting his extradition before British justice, with a crucial meeting on Tuesday.

The life of Julian Assange is “in danger” : it is his wife who affirms this. According to her, the founder of WikiLeaks risks dying in prison. A decisive hearing begins on Tuesday February 20 before the High Court in London. If he loses, the most likely option according to his own side, he will no longer have any recourse in the United Kingdom and he could be sent to the EUnited States, where he risks ending his life in prison.

The WikiLeaks affair began in 2010, when the site published more than 700,000 confidential documents. The latter reveal American diplomatic and military activities, particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan. In particular, war crimes are discovered there.

The United States considers that this information puts the lives of agents in danger and is prosecuting Julian Assange. In London, he first found refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy to avoid prosecution for rape in Sweden, which has since been dropped. He remained inside the embassy from 2012 to 2019. When he left, he was incarcerated.

“His state of health deteriorates over time”

Stella Assange, his wife, is fighting for his freedom. They got married two years ago, in prison, and have two children aged five and six and a half. She is an exhausted woman. That day, she was returning from Warwick University, more than two hours from London. She gave a conference there, as she does dozens, to plead her husband’s cause. She had returned in the night because she had to prepare for her youngest son’s birthday the next day, and also organize a visit to prison the same day.

Stella Assange is tired, on edge, doesn’t smile much and we understand why. She speaks to her husband by telephone once a day and sees him on average twice a week, for a little over an hour at each appointment. She takes the children there when the visits take place on weekends. They all have to stay seated except to say hello and goodbye. “His health deteriorates over timeshe laments. Julian is in danger every day in this prison. He is in a cell measuring two by three meters. Alone, for more than 21 hours a day. There’s an emergency button but if you’re not able to press it, if you feel unwell, you don’t know how long it will be before someone sees you.”

“He risks self-harm, suicide”

At Christmas, he was sick, severe coughing fits, his wife thinks he may have had Covid. He was not tested and it took three days for a doctor to examine him. But the biggest worry for those close to him is his mental health. This is also the main argument in his defense for not extraditing him. “The psychiatrists who examined Julian in prison all came to the same conclusion: he is at risk of self-harm, of suicide. The trigger would be solitary confinement and the United States would undoubtedly place him in solitary confinement. The judge’s initial conclusion was that he would be driven to suicide.”

A British judge actually refused extradition three years ago, for this very reason. But since then, other judges have ruled differently. Stella Assange fears for her husband’s life if he is extradited. Because of his fragile health, but not only. She thinks the United States could go even further: “He could be assassinated and it’s not a personal delusion. According to reports, Mike Pompeo, while head of the CIA, was making and asking for concrete proposals on how to assassinate Julian. Discussions all the way to the White House to kidnap him, kill him…”

“It is the intelligence agencies that give recommendations as to whether a person should be placed in solitary confinement. So there is no doubt that they will use their powers to do so, knowing full well the risks to him. “

Stella Assange

franceinfo

She refers to discussions within the CIA in 2017, revealed by Yahoo! news where, in fact, the kidnapping or even the assassination of the founder of WikiLeaks were mentioned. The site said it was based on around thirty testimonials. The CIA obviously never confirmed.

It has since also become known that a Spanish security company monitored Assange and his visitors when he was at the Ecuadorian embassy. Investigations are being carried out in Spain and the United States. In court, former employees of this company claim that they worked for the CIA. One says his kidnapping and even poisoning were considered at the time.