Sputnik International WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is accused of obtaining and disclosing US national defence secrets, spent seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, but is now being held in a British prison following his arrest in April 2019.
UK authorities are holding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in conditions worse than for accused terrorists and are preventing him from preparing his case against US extradition, WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson told the Grayzone.
Assange, who received a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in London after being found guilty of breaching the Bail Act in April, has been denied correspondence, granted only two social visits per month, and is generally being held under conditions of increased isolation, according to Hrafnsson.
Although the notorious Australian has served his sentence for breaching bail conditions and was supposed to be released on 22 September, he is to remain in prison due to District Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s “substantial” belief that Assange could “abscond again” upon release. Hrafnsson argued that this reveals a “biased manner” of treatment of the WikiLeaks founder by the British system.