Julian Assange has 'dramatically lost weight' since being imprisoned, and is so ill he can barely speak, WikiLeaks claims

• Julian Assange is emaciated and incoherent just seven weeks into his year-long sentence in a UK prison, WikiLeaks has said.
• Assange, already in poor health from a near seven-year exile in Ecuador's London Embassy, has "continued to deteriorate" and "has dramatically lost weight," WikiLeaks said in a statement.
• HMP Belmarsh Prison moved Assange to its health ward this week, WikiLeaks said, which "speaks for itself."
• They added that his current mental state made it "not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him."
• Assange was set to appear via video link at a hearing over his possible extradition to the US on Thursday, but is too ill to do so.
• Visit Business Insider for more stories.

Julian Assange is incoherent and has "dramatically lost weight" during his incarceration at Britain's Belmarsh Prison, WikiLeaks said.

"During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and and he has dramatically lost weight," WikiLeaks said in a statement posted to Twitter on Thursday.

According to WikiLeaks Assange was in such a poor state of health on Friday "it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him."

Reuters

Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates Court.




Assange, who was arrested at the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 11, was sentenced to 50 weeks in HMP Belmarsh Prison on May 1 for breaking bail conditions.

The arrest came after Ecuador terminated Assange's asylum over a string of allegations that he abused staff, smeared his faeces on the walls, and insulted Ecuador.

Read more: Wikileaks said Julian Assange scrubbed all his computers before getting arrested, and claimed the US could plant false evidence on them

During his self-imposed exile, doctors found Assange was exhibiting clear signs of depression, PTSD, anxiety, and mania.

The Hollywood Reporter

Close friends Julian Assange and Pamela Anderson - who visited Assange in Belmarsh Prison -on the cover of the May 2018 issue of The Hollywood Reporter.




The UK's Department of Justice would not confirm WikiLeaks' claim Assange was moved to Belmarsh's health ward.

WikiLeaks said: "The decision of prison authorities to move him to the health ward speaks for itself."

Read more: A timeline of Julian Assange's 6.5-year confinement in a 330-sq.-ft. space in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he hung out with Pamela Anderson and hardly saw the sun

On May 23, a 17-count US Department of Justice indictment accused Assange of obtaining and disclosing national defense information about the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

He was also charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion by the US in April, bringing the total number of charges to 18.

The DOJ has been investigating Assange since 2010.

WikiLeaks say Assange will get 175 years in jail if the US extradite him. The extradition request will be considered in Westminster Magistrates Court in London on Thursday.

Assange was set to appear via video link at the hearing, but is too ill to do so, Reuters reported. "He's not very well," Judge Emma Arbuthnot said.

Sweden are also trying to extradite Assange to face two allegations of rape from 2010. Assange denies the claims.

NOW WATCH: The world's tallest mountains like Mount Everest and K2 have a 'death zone' - here's a first-hand account of what it's like

function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);