© Dominic Lorrimer
Julian 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: Update 19 Nov
French media reports that the driver of the large truck was found yesterday night at around 22:00 CET
A French senator has sounded the alarm, reminding people that, following the 2018 bridge collapse disaster in Genoa, Italy, he had published a report about the state of France's bridges. Around 25,000 of them - 10% of bridges in France - are in urgent need of repairs or complete replacement because they were built up to a century ago.