My Take | Torturing Julian Assange slowly to death
- Human rights doctors have warned the founder of WikiLeaks could die in captivity. That may be exactly what Washington wants while its Western allies turn a blind eye
The mother of whistle-blower extraordinaire Julian Assange once tweeted: “My son Julian #Assange is being slowly, cruelly & unlawfully assassinated by the #US and #UK Governments, for multi-award winning journalism revealing war crimes & corruption!”
Sadly, she is being proved right. For the American and British governments, it would be messy politically to assassinate Assange outright, such as what Saudi Arabia did with dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Seeing him rot either in a proper prison or while waiting for extradition to the United States is their best option.
This is not to say Americans didn’t think about murdering him. In September, Yahoo News disclosed from interviews with more than 30 former officials during the Donald Trump presidency that the US Central Intelligence Agency under Trump’s then-CIA director Mike Pompeo – who was later made secretary of state – once plotted to kidnap or kill Assange, even at the risk of a shoot-out in the busy streets of London.
Now, after news reports of Assange having suffered a stroke, an international group of more than 300 medical professionals has issued a warning that his health is deteriorating fast and that he could die.
In a statement, Doctors for Assange, an NGO, wrote: “Assange’s apparent mini stroke may be the tip of a medical iceberg. Indeed his symptoms suggest as much. It is therefore imperative that Mr Assange be released from prison, where his health will otherwise continue to deteriorate and where his complex medical needs cannot be met.