{"id":1487974,"date":"2024-02-07T23:50:18","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T23:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=147970"},"modified":"2024-02-07T23:50:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-07T23:50:18","slug":"assange-faces-torture-and-suicide-in-us-un","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2024\/02\/07\/assange-faces-torture-and-suicide-in-us-un\/","title":{"rendered":"Assange Faces Torture and Suicide in US \u2013 UN"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Assange<\/picture>Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England <\/span>\u00a9\u00a0<\/span>Getty Images \/ <\/span> Jack Taylor\/Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n

The United Nations\u2019 special rapporteur on torture has called upon authorities in the UK to block Julian Assange\u2019s possible extradition to the United States to face espionage charges. Britain could be violating human rights laws by turning the WikiLeaks founder over to the US, due to his fragile mental state, UN expert Alice Jill Edwards warned on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Assange\u2019s final appeal against extradition this month, Edwards has warned that Assange\u2019s \u201cprecarious mental health status\u201d could mean that transferring him to US custody could endanger his health.<\/p>\n

\u201cJulian Assange suffers from long-standing and recurrent depressive order,\u201d Edwards said in a statement published on the website of the UN\u2019s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on Tuesday. \u201cHe is assessed as being at risk of committing suicide.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assange, now 52, came to international prominence in 2010 when he published a series of leaks from US Army intelligence operative Chelsea Manning in what was referred to as the largest disclosure of classified documents in history. He faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted of a string of espionage charges.<\/p>\n

Edwards added that Assange is also at \u201crisk of being placed in prolonged solitary confinement\u201d and could receive a \u201cpotentially disproportionate sentence\u201d in a US courtroom if extradition is approved.<\/p>\n

She also urged London to ensure \u201cfull compliance with the absolute and non-derogable prohibition of refoulement to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

A final decision on Assange\u2019s possible extradition is expected to be made in London\u2019s High Court on February 20 and 21. He faces a total of 18 criminal counts in the United States over his supposed role in leaking classified documents via the WikiLeaks platform, including some that exposed alleged war crimes.<\/p>\n

Assange has been hailed by his supporters as an anti-establishment hero who is being persecuted for exposing US military wrongdoing, and his prosecution would be an attack on journalism and free speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last four and a half years have taken the most considerable toll on Julian and his family, including our two young sons,\u201d Assange\u2019s wife Stella, whom he married in prison, said last year. \u201cThe persecution of this innocent journalist and publisher must end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assange has been detained in the UK since 2019 and is currently being held at Belmarsh Prison in London. Prior to his detention,\u00a0he spent nearly seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in the English capital after being granted political asylum by the South American country.<\/p>The post Assange Faces Torture and Suicide in US \u2013 UN<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n

This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England \u00a9\u00a0Getty Images \/ Jack Taylor\/Getty Images The United Nations\u2019 special rapporteur on torture has called upon authorities in the UK to block Julian Assange\u2019s possible extradition to the United States to [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post Assange Faces Torture and Suicide in US \u2013 UN<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557,1178,177,117,118,562,200],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1487974"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1487990,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1487974\/revisions\/1487990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1487974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1487974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1487974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}