Julian Assange claims he's 'slowly dying' in prison says friend

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The US has challenged a British judge’s decision not to extradite Assange which was made last year based on his mental health. District Judge Vanessa Baraitser said the court trusted the US would protect Assange’s right to free speech and noted his dealings with Ms Manning “went beyond the mere encouragement of a journalist” but refused to extradite him on the grounds he would be a high suicide risk in US custody. Assange faces an 18-count indictment in the US with conspiracy to commit computer hacking and plotting to obtain and release classified information.

The charges come after he published hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, provided by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning.

The US claims these leaks were politically motivated and the unredacted classified information put the lives of US sources in danger.

Assange’s team say that the publication of said classified documents exposed American wrongdoing and were therefore in the public interest.

The WikiLeaks founder has also denied informants were put in harm’s way or that he plotted hacking with his source Ms Manning.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison if he is convicted on all counts.

Supporters of Assange, who argue freedom of speech should protect him from the US state, have planned to gather en masse outside the courts today with furious protests expected to erupt.

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KEY EVENTS

08:45 Where is Assange now?

Assange is currently being held in south London’s HMP Belmarsh. 

He has been held there since being carried out of the Ecuadorian embassy in 2019 after seeking asylum there for seven years.

After Assange’s ejection, Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno said: “The discourteous and aggressive behavior of Mr. Julian Assange; the hostile and threatening declarations of his allied organization against Ecuador, and especially the transgression of international treaties, have led the situation to a point where the asylum of Mr. Assange is unsustainable and no longer viable.”

The Ecuadorian embassy accused Assange of smearing feces on the walls, skateboarding through the narrow halls and being rude to staff members during his seven year stay.

08:35 Did Donald Trump pardon Assange?

Assange’s supporters had hoped Donald Trump would pardon the WikiLeaks founder during his presidential pardons at the end of his term.

There was a request from Assange’s partner, Stella Moris, for the US Justice Department to drop his charges and the president to offer him a pardon.

The former-president pardoned or commuted the sentences of 143 people in his final hours in office.

However, Assange was not on the list.

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