Having been in solitary lock-up for 23 hours a day in Belmarsh prison without exercise or showers since November, and with the worst criminals, some of whom have COVID-19, he will not be extradited to the United States because conditions in the supermax in Florence, Colorado, are reportedly similar. Having been found more than a year ago by a United Nations Special Rapporteur and numerous medical specialists to be suffering mental torture, this is suddenly grounds for his release.
After Judge Vanessa Baraitser’s surprising decision, the US Department of Justice claimed its points of law at the extradition hearing had prevailed, and will pursue an appeal. Australian QC Geoffrey Robertson says that’s unlikely to succeed. The Americans’ lawyers complained to Baraitser last October that Assange’s defence team described the US as being “guilty of torture, war crimes, murder, breaches of diplomatic and international law and … is ‘a lawless state’”.