{"id":2161,"date":"2020-12-14T16:47:17","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=139214"},"modified":"2020-12-14T16:47:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T16:47:17","slug":"assanges-partner-decries-atrocious-prison-conditions-in-appeal-for-australian-intervention","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2020\/12\/14\/assanges-partner-decries-atrocious-prison-conditions-in-appeal-for-australian-intervention\/","title":{"rendered":"Assange’s Partner Decries ‘Atrocious’ Prison Conditions in Appeal for Australian Intervention"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The partner of jailed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said in a weekend interview that he is “very unwell” in London’s notorious Belmarsh prison, where he awaits a judge’s decision on a U.S. extradition request, and that the government of his native Australia should intervene to secure his release. <\/p>\n

“The prison is a dangerous place; suicides and murders are commonplace. He is surrounded by very serious criminals… And there is a Covid-19 outbreak currently in Julian’s wing.” 
\u2014Stella Morris<\/span><\/p>\n

Stella Morris, the South Africa-born attorney who has been in a relationship with Assange since 2015 and who is raising their two children, spoke<\/a> with Sky News Australia<\/em> Saturday, sounding the alarm over what she said were the “atrocious circumstances” he’s suffering at Belmarsh. <\/p>\n

“The prison is a dangerous place; suicides and murders are commonplace,” Morris said.  “He is surrounded by very serious criminals; one in five [is] convicted of murder. And there’s a Covid-19 outbreak currently… in Julian’s wing.”<\/p>\n

Assange’s lawyers have repeatedly called for his release, arguing<\/a> that his pre-existing health conditions, which include heart problems and chronic respiratory infections, place the 49-year-old journalist and publisher at a high risk for potentially deadly Covid-19 complications.<\/p>\n

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