Julian Assange’s brother Gabriel Shipton said Monday in New York that he feared the death of the WikiLeaks founder in a legal battle against his extradition from the UK to the United States.
Shipton’s concerns were conveyed to France-Presse during a protest he held outside the British consulate in Manhattan, with some three dozen protesters, including American actress Susan Sarandon and British musician and Pink Floyd founder Roger Waters.
The activist’s brother said he was “very worried about what was on Julian’s mind” and that the family lived “in fear that he would not stand it or that he would die completely during the extradition trial.”
This isn’t the first time Shipton has voiced concerns about the health of her 50-year-old brother, and Australian whistleblower fiancé Stella Morris told the British Mail on Sunday that Assange suffered a “microstroke.” [Acidente Vascular Cerebral]“In prison at the end of October.
Assange has been held in a maximum security prison near London since he was arrested by British police after spending seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in the British capital, where he took refuge on bail.
For his brother Julian Assange “is no longer the person he was when it all began,” but “remains strong and warlike.”
Assange’s relatives and supporters demonstrated after a Supreme Court ruling in England in favor of a US claim that overturned a lower court’s decision against extradition. However, Assange intends to appeal to the Supreme Court.
The US accuses him of espionage for disclosing, as of 2010, more than 700,000 classified documents about US military and diplomatic activities, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, for which he could face up to 175 years in prison.
For artist Roger Waters, “our lives, our freedom and democracy are totally dependent on what happens to Julian Assange,” while Susan Sarandon stated that “no matter what we think of Julian Assange, press freedom and journalism” …
