Following reports that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is “gravely ill,” former Congressman Ron Paul asked if the United States and the United Kingdom are trying to kill the political prisoner.
On Thursday’s episode of the Liberty Report, Paul discussed the situation and compared it to the Otto Warmbier case, arguing the US and UK would look no different from North Korea if Assange were to perish under their watch.
“The Korean government abused him and they killed him. Then they brought him back here when he was terminal,” Paul said.
The former Congressman explained how the United States is currently trying to get Assange extradited where he would face up to 175 years in prison and a possible death sentence.
“The main problem here is that he was telling us the truth,” Paul stated.
On Wednesday, the WikiLeaks Twitter account released a statement outlining their concern for Assange’s health, saying he’s “been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison.”
“During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health as continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight,” the post reads. “The decision of prison authorities to move him to the health ward speaks for itself.”
WikiLeaks has grave concerns about the state of health of our publisher, Julian Assange, who has been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison. – See full statement: pic.twitter.com/HnZVks4kWj
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) May 29, 2019
Assange’s attorney Gareth Pierce said the journalist was too sick to appear in a Thursday expedition hearing via video.
In January of 2018, during his nearly seven-year stay at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, doctors who visited Assange wrote an article about how he was unable to get much-needed medical treatment.
“The WikiLeaks founder has a human right to healthcare. It will not be met while he remains confined in the Ecuadorian embassy,” they wrote.
“The prolonged uncertainty of indefinite detention inflicts profound psychological and physical trauma above and beyond the expected stressors of incarceration,” the doctors continued.
It’s likely the health complications reported in 2018 have continued and that the lack of healthcare is to blame for Assange’s current state.
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