Julian Assange's fiancee said that the WikiLeaks founder suffered a stroke during his High Court appeal. Stella Moris, Assange's partner posted on social media that Assange had suffered in October and he needed to be freed from prison. Moris did not comment on his condition after the stroke.
Assange is being held in a high-security prison, at Belmarsh prison in London since 2019. believes the mini-stroke was triggered by the stress of the ongoing US extradition battle.
In October, Assange attended hearings intermittently for over five hours. Assange appeared dishevelled, with his white hair reaching his shoulders.
A doctor who examined Assange confirmed nerve damage after he found a delayed pupil response when a light was shone into one eye.
Julian Assange can be extradited from the UK to the US, the High Court in London ruled on Friday, overturning a lower court decision that the embattled WikiLeaks founder could not be sent to America to face spying charges due to concerns over his mental health.
The 50-year-old Australian has been charged in the US under the Espionage Act for his role in publishing thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents in 2010 and 2011. US prosecutors say the leaks of classified material endangered lives.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
Lawyers for the US said he would be allowed to transfer to Australia to serve any prison sentence he may be given closer to home, the BBC reported.
Assange was arrested in April 2019 when British authorities entered the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he had been holed up for seven years, and took him into custody on a US extradition warrant.
