© Dominic LorrimerJulian Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson at Parliament House in July.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains ill and effectively isolated in a high-security prison alongside inmates facing charges for violent offences and terrorism, his lawyer Jennifer Robinson told a Sydney audience on Friday night.
"I was with Julian on Tuesday... and his health is obviously significantly and seriously deteriorating," said Ms Robinson, a prominent human rights advocate and barrister who has defended Mr Assange since 2010.
Ms Robinson was in Sydney as a guest of the global association of Writers, PEN International, which was marking its Day of the Imprisoned Writer in support of free speech.
She said that during his seven years inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Mr Assange had not been able to access proper sunlight or space to exercise and the UK had refused permission to let him access outside medical care, forcing him to "choose between his right to asylum and his right to health".
Mr Assange, 48, has now completed his sentence for breaching bail as a result of that asylum. He is being held in Belmarsh Prison outside London as the British government considers an extradition application from the United States over allegations he conspired to break into a classified Pentagon computer.
Should he be convicted he faces 175 years in prison. His hearing will be heard in February.
Comment: It's a truly bizarre phenomenon to witness - people lying to themselves about who they are and, despite the obvious fact that it's a lie, everyone not only going along with it, but screaming in outrage at anyone who doesn't. 'Clown World' doesn't even come close to encapsulating this.
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