Julian Assange is suffering 'psychological torture' and should not be extradited to the US, the UN's torture expert said

Source: Business Insider:::

June 1, 2019 at 15:01

Julian Assange arrives at Westminster Magistrates' Court in London after his arrest on April 11. Victoria Jones/PA Images via Getty Images

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange shows signs of psychological torture after several years' worth of "progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," the UN's torture expert Nils Melzer said.

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange shows the symptoms of psychological torture and could have his human rights violated if he is extradited to the US, a United Nations torture expert said in a scathing statement that accused countries of ganging up to demonize Assange.

Nils Melzer, the UN's special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, said that he examined Assange alongside two medical experts in early May and found that Assange was displaying "extreme stress, chronic anxiety and intense psychological trauma" after being subjected to several years' worth of "progressively severe forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

Assange is currently on his seventh week of a 50-week sentence in the UK's Belmarsh prison after he was expelled from Ecuador's London embassy.

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