FEARS FOR ASSANGE
Julian Assange moved to hospital wing of Belmarsh prison after dramatic weight loss as Wikileaks says it has ‘grave concerns’ for his health
WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange has reportedly been moved to the hospital wing of HMP Belmarsh following "dramatic" weight loss and health complications.
The news comes after he was charged with 17 new counts of espionage for publishing classified documents earlier this week.
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Assange is due to appear in court today for a hearing on his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges.
In a statement last night, the organisation 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.
"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."
However, sources said Assange has been receiving the same amount of food as other prisoners, and is eating normally.
Assange was arrested in London in April after being dragged out of the Ecuadorean Embassy.
He had been holed up in the sovereign building for seven years to avoid capture.
The United States is seeking his extradition from the UK - where he's been jailed for 50 weeks for breaching bail.
The 47-year-old was booted out of the embassy - where he hid to avoid being sent to Sweden to face rape allegations.
They accused him of rape and molestation and Assange was questioned but never charged over the allegations.
He was initially told he could leave the country, but in November of that year, Interpol issued a Red Notice for his arrest.
Assange has always denied the claims.
The sexual misconduct allegations have been dropped after time ran out to prosecute him.
But the time limit for the rape case is August 2020.
He gave himself up a week later and appeared before a judge in Westminster, where his supporters stumped up £240,000 for his bail.
Assange was last week charged with 17 new counts of espionage for publishing classified documents.
The charge read: “Assange, WikiLeaks affiliates and Manning shared the common objective to subvert lawful restrictions on classified information and to publicly disseminate it.”
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Prosecutors allege that Assange and WikiLeaks “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal it.”
Each of the alleged 17 violations of the Espionage Act carries a potential ten-year prison sentence, .
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said they could not comment on individual cases.
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WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange arrested by police and removed from the Ecuadorian embassy
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