NEW YORK: Julian Assange’s brother said Monday he feared the Wikileaks publisher would not survive the United States’ attempts to prosecute him after his fiancee revealed he had suffered a mini-stroke.
Gabriel Shipton was among about 30 people, including Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters and actress Susan Sarandon, to rally in support of Assange outside the British consulate in New York.
The protest came a day after Assange’s fiancee Stella Moris said Assange had suffered a mini-stroke in late October, on the first day of a US government appeal against a ruling blocking his removal.
The demonstrators were protesting against a decision on Friday by British appeals judges to overturn the ruling after accepting US government assurances Assange would receive appropriate treatment and not be held in punishing isolation in custody.
“Very worried about it,” Shipton told AFP. “This hanging over Julian’s head just increases the pressure on him now.
“So we live in fear that he won’t make it through this or that he will die basically, during this process,” he added.
The United States wants to put Assange on trial for WikiLeaks’ 2010 publication of thousands of top-secret military documents about the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Assange’s lawyers have previously raised concerns about the effects of his lengthy incarceration on his physical and mental health in a bid to halt the extradition.
Assange spent seven years in Ecuador’s London embassy until 2019, after jumping bail in connection with sexual assault allegations in Sweden.
He was then jailed for 50 weeks for breaching bail in that case, which was later dropped, but detained ever since on the grounds he was a flight risk.
Sarandon told Assange supporters that “no matter what you think of Julian Assange,” his case was about “journalism that just isn’t about entertainment.”
“(It) has to do with having an informed public because once this goes, we’re really dead,” she said.
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Brother fears Assange may not survive US prosecution
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Brother fears Assange may not survive US prosecution
- Assange spent seven years in Ecuador’s London embassy until 2019, after jumping bail in connection with sexual assault allegations in Sweden
US military plane hits road barrier during Philippine training, injuring 5 personnel
- A United States military plane carrying five US personnel has hit a concrete fence while attempting to take off from a road during contingency training drill in a northern Philippine province
MANILA: A United States military plane hit a concrete barrier while attempting to take off from a road during contingency training in the Philippines, injuring all five American personnel aboard, Philippine officials said Wednesday.
The pilot and two other American personnel were brought to a hospital for treatment after Tuesday afternoon’s incident in a concrete bypass road in Laoac town in the northern Pangasinan province. Two other injured personnel were treated at the site and the US Air Force transport plane was damaged, police said in a report.
US military officials did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for more details about the incident, including the condition of the injured personnel.
The training, involving the plane landing on and taking off from an “alternate landing zone,” was planned and fully coordinated with Philippine civilian, police and military authorities, three Philippine officials said. The training was meant to prepare military forces for contingencies, such as when regular airports and runways become inaccessible during typhoons and earthquakes.
The three officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the accident publicly, said the cause of the accident was under investigation. The aircraft managed to land during the “supervised activity,” but swerved during takeoff, one of the three officials said.
The US military had deployed aircraft and personnel in the past to help deliver food, medicine and other humanitarian aid to Philippine provinces devastated by typhoons and other natural disasters.
US forces are allowed to conduct training with Filipino counterparts in the Philippines under a 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement. Large-scale joint combat training drills in recent years have focused on helping the Philippines defend its territorial interests and promote freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which lies west of Pangasinan.
Confrontations between the coast guard and naval forces of China and the Philippines have flared in recent years in the disputed waters, which is claimed largely by Beijing. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs.
The US does not lay any claims in the contested waters but has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines under a mutual defense treaty if Philippine forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
The pilot and two other American personnel were brought to a hospital for treatment after Tuesday afternoon’s incident in a concrete bypass road in Laoac town in the northern Pangasinan province. Two other injured personnel were treated at the site and the US Air Force transport plane was damaged, police said in a report.
US military officials did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for more details about the incident, including the condition of the injured personnel.
The training, involving the plane landing on and taking off from an “alternate landing zone,” was planned and fully coordinated with Philippine civilian, police and military authorities, three Philippine officials said. The training was meant to prepare military forces for contingencies, such as when regular airports and runways become inaccessible during typhoons and earthquakes.
The three officials, who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the accident publicly, said the cause of the accident was under investigation. The aircraft managed to land during the “supervised activity,” but swerved during takeoff, one of the three officials said.
The US military had deployed aircraft and personnel in the past to help deliver food, medicine and other humanitarian aid to Philippine provinces devastated by typhoons and other natural disasters.
US forces are allowed to conduct training with Filipino counterparts in the Philippines under a 1999 Visiting Forces Agreement. Large-scale joint combat training drills in recent years have focused on helping the Philippines defend its territorial interests and promote freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea, which lies west of Pangasinan.
Confrontations between the coast guard and naval forces of China and the Philippines have flared in recent years in the disputed waters, which is claimed largely by Beijing. Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan are also involved in the long-simmering territorial standoffs.
The US does not lay any claims in the contested waters but has repeatedly warned that it’s obligated to defend the Philippines under a mutual defense treaty if Philippine forces, ships and aircraft come under an armed attack, including in the South China Sea.
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