Assange ‘Unwell,’ His Lawyer Says During U.S. Extradition Fight
Assange ‘Unwell,’ His Lawyer Says During U.S. Extradition Fight
(Bloomberg) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is sick, his lawyer said Thursday during a hearing in London that’s the latest stage of his fight against extradition to the U.S.
His attorney Gareth Peirce said in court that his client had not been very well, hours after Wikileaks tweeted that it has “grave concerns” for Assange’s health as he’s lost weight in prison and been moved to its health ward. Assange didn’t appear at court.
The short hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court was the latest in his extradition battle, and came after the U.S. last week charged Assange with 18 counts related to endangering national security by conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information.
He’s accused of working with former U.S. Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning to get classified documents from databases containing about 90,000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related reports and 250,000 State Department cables.
Swedish prosecutors have separately reopened investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies.
Assange, 47, is serving a 50-week sentence in the U.K.’s Belmarsh jail for skipping bail.
The next extradition hearing may take place from the jail or a court there, Judge Emma Arbuthnot said Thursday. It’s scheduled for June 12 but may happen a day either side of that date if that’s “convenient for the parties and the court,” she said.
Assange was removed from Ecuadorian embassy in London in April, after taking refuge there in 2012.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kaye Wiggins in London at kwiggins4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net, Christopher Elser
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