Julian Assange's health improving in prison: WikiLeaks chief
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is no longer being held in solitary confinement and his health is improving.
That was the revelation from the editor of Wikileaks on Tuesday (February 18), ahead of a hearing in London next week over an extradition request from the United States where Assange is wanted on spying charges.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF WIKILEAKS, KRISTINN HRAFNSSON, SAYING:
"I saw him about 10 days ago. He has improved - and thanks to the pressure from his legal team, mostly behind the scenes, from the general public, and amazingly, actually, from other inmates in Belmarsh Prison, who have on three occasions petitioned the governor to get him out of isolation.
Assange first made global headlines a decade ago, when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing an attack in Baghdad that killed 12 people.
The 48-year-old faces 18 charges in the U.S. including conspiring to hack government computers and violating espionage law.
He fled to the Ecuadorean embassy in London in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning about allegations of sex crimes which have since been dropped.
After seven years holed up in the embassy, he was dragged out in May last year and jailed for skipping bail before the U.S. launched its extradition request.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF WIKILEAKS, KRISTINN HRAFNSSON, SAYING:
"What's at stake is not just the life of Julian Assange, who faces 175 years in prison if extradited, it is the future of journalism, that's how important it is. This is the gravest attack on journalism in latter times in the world. "
To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech.
The first half of his extradition hearing gets underway next week and will resume in May.
