LONDON, ENGLAND – APRIL 11: Julian Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on his arrival at Westminster Magistrates court on April 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Jack Taylor/Getty Images)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 10:45 AM PT – Tuesday, October 26, 2021
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faces extradition to the U.S. in an upcoming trial.
Assange’s partner, Stella Morris, held a press conference ahead of the hearing in London Monday. She began by remarking on the abhorrent condition she found him in a Belmarsh prison, where he has been incarcerated for the past 2.5 years.
“I was quite taken aback by how this he was,” said Morris. “He was wearing a t-shirt so I hadn’t seen his arms for a long time. So, I could see how thin he got.”
Morris went on to express her fears of what could happen if Assange should be moved to the U.S. She likened his possible fate to that of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
“It is now known that the CIA was plotting to murder Julian and kidnap him, and carry out completely illegal acts just like the Saudi government did to Jamal Khashoggi and actually carried out the murder,” said Morris. “The CIA was planning to do the same against Julian.”
Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson, Editor-in-Chief of Wikileaks (L) and Julian Assange’s partner Stella Moris attend a briefing with members of the media in London on October 25, 2021, ahead of the appeal of the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS/AFP via Getty Images)
Morris claimed a British ruling of extradition would be sending her partner to the country that plotted to kill him.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson claimed the theory of an Assange murder plot by the CIA is not far-fetched. He went on to cite a Yahoo News report affirming the possibility of the claim.
“It is the CIA who can dictate and demand that a prisoner of the U.S. system is put into isolation by whatever they deem as national security grounds. So, the scenario is this: Julian, if extradited, his fate will be in the hand of the agency who was drawing up plans to kill or kidnap him,” said Hrafnsson.
Assange’s U.K. high court hearing is set for Wednesday. Should he be tried in the U.S., he will be prosecuted under the Espionage Act and face up to 175 years in prison for leaking classified Army Intelligence documents.
The WikiLeaks founder spent seven years living inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London before being apprehended by authorities.
