WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s life has been at risk since he was abducted by British forces from the Ecuadorian embassy last April. UN Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer has made it clear through a series of UN Torture reports on Assange, that he could die in the hands of the British establishment.
Over 60 Doctors defending Assange (now 200+ Doctors) sounded the alarm. They published an open letter to the UK Home Secretary on November 22, 2019, informing her that Assange’s health is now in critical condition. The letter stated that Assange could die at any time from a collapsed immune system or from heart failure due to the extreme stress he faces under the threat of U.S. Extradition, which is a sure death sentence for the WikiLeaks founder.
Meanwhile, Assange is still being denied visits with his lawyers and prevented from participating in his own legal defense. He was kept in the “medical unit” of Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh, in London, in a 2.5 x 3.4 meter cell, up to 23 hours a day, for nearly 10 months, and tortured. Recently, he was moved to another unit but remains in solitary confinement under torture.
Julian Assange has spent one year in solitary confinement. He had a birthday behind bars and spent Christmas alone, in extreme isolation and deprivation from human contact. With an already weakened immune system, worsened to the point of near-death, Assange cannot endure more. He’s already suffered prolonged and profound psychological torture and medical neglect at the hands of the British establishment.
Assange’s confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy caused him to develop multiple health conditions, including a lung condition, which is now chronic. This damning revelation, revealed Wednesday by the BBC, is not only a stain on UK soil but puts Assange’s life in mortal danger from the Coronavirus outbreak, which has now crept its way inside the walls of HMP Belmarsh, where Assange is being detained on remand.
The second inmate has just died of Coronavirus within the UK prison system on Friday. 19 inmates, 4 prison officers, and 3 staff have tested positive, while 100 staff from HMP Belmarsh are in isolation. A total of 55 prisoners within the UK prison system are infected with Coronavirus. 18 staff are infected, 1,000 prisoners and 3,500 staff are in isolation (updated March 31st 2020).
As if this isn’t damning enough, on Wednesday, a Judge denied the bail request from Assange’s lawyers, even though he is now at fatal risk of contracting Coronavirus, warn Doctors for Assange. Virus outbreaks are challenging to contain within an overcrowded prison population like HMP Belmarsh. This is supposedly why Trump has begun releasing inmates from U.S. prisons, based on humanitarian grounds, isn’t it?
Judge Bairaitser is killing Assange over a conflict of interest and as a personal vendetta against him and WikiLeaks for exposing her husband’s financial crimes. She’s a corrupt judge who should have recused herself from the beginning of this show trial. Assange is a pioneer Publisher whose only crime was bringing us truth in a sea of lies and insisting on transparency of Government. The act of classifying war crimes under National Security is a U.S. Government crime, not the crime of WikiLeaks for exposing it.
The Lancet published another medical warning by Doctors for Assange on February 17, 2020, calling for an end to the UK’s torture and medical neglect of Assange. A Humanitarian Visa was granted by the Swiss Government for safe passage for Assange urgently, and Nils Melzer again sounded the alarm, but despite these warnings, Her Majesty’s Government proves hell bent on killing him. Assange is cut off from the world, and recent reports prove HMP Belmarsh’s torture and isolation have intensified against him.
Assange is at a much higher risk of fatality from the lethal Coronavirus, even more so than other inmates, because of his preexisting, chronic lung condition and his extremely weakened immune system. According to medical reports, Coronavirus manifests in most of its victims as a strong case of the flu, and the symptoms are much like those of influenza. However, a smaller percentage of the more vulnerable population will develop life-threatening conditions from Coronavirus, much like SARS. The people most susceptible to the SARS-like affliction are those with weakened immune systems or preexisting medical conditions, like Assange. Coronavirus is not a normal virus, and Doctors say they have never seen it before. Therefore, there is no cure or treatment, only supporting therapies.
Dr Peter Lin, a Family Physician in Toronto, Canada, explains how COVID-19 works. He says that in acute cases, Coronavirus acts similarly to SARS in how it spreads inside the body. It specifically targets the lungs. Coronavirus is designed to attach itself to lung cells where it mutates and multiplies, killing the host cells and cutting oxygen flow so that the victim suffocates. The main reason people go to hospitals when afflicted with Coronavirus is that they cannot breathe.
Experts warn that exposure to the Coronavirus would most likely prove deadly for Assange. Therefore, the international community must act swiftly to ensure his release. Please call and write to your MPs, Government officials, media agencies, and spread the word. If we lose Julian Assange, we lose Press Freedom, and if we lose our ability to speak freely, then we can no longer hold corrupt leaders to account. We will have allowed tyrannical governments to have their way with us and bring us into totalitarian law and a ‘new world order’.
“You can resist,” Julian Assange was heard saying while being carried off by British forces in April. Julian deserves his freedom, and so do we. Press Freedom is not an option; it’s a right we must defend.
Ariyana Love 