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Assange is a prisoner of conscience. UK authorities arrested and detained him solely for extradition to the US. DOJ spokeswoman Nicole Oxman acknowledged it, saying "I can confirm that Julian Assange was arrested in relation to a provisional extradition request from the United States of America."
His persecution has a long way to go. If UK courts grant the extradition request and his case goes to the European Court of Human Rights and/or European Court of Justice, will either or both judicial bodies overrule it on grounds of charges prohibited by the US/UK extradition treaty?
If not, he'll likely be imprisoned in the US until he perishes behind bars for truth-telling journalism about US high crimes of war, against humanity, and other wrongdoing.
Given his greatly deteriorated physical and emotional health, is Britain slowly killing him in confinement at London's high-security Belmarsh prison?
According to a prison source, he lost "dangerous amounts of weight. (He's) unwell generally but has recently been struggling to eat which has made it worse. He looked near to collapse, gaunt and frail so they have got him in (the prison's medical ward) as a precaution."
"And his state of mind is not great, either." He's too frail to give testimony by video link from Belmarsh.
If mistreatment behind bars continues in Britain or if extradited to the US, he may perish in confinement for the "crime" of truth-telling journalism the way it's supposed to be.
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