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c0lo writes:

BBC:

The UN's special rapporteur on torture said that Assange had been subjected to sustained collective persecution - including threatening statements and incitement to violence against him.

"I've worked in many areas of war in my life, in situations of violence, and I've talked to victims of persecution around the world and I've seen very serious atrocities," Mr Melzer told the BBC.

"But [what] I have never seen is that a single person has been deliberately isolated and, I would say, persecuted - not prosecuted, but persecuted - by several democratic states in a concerted effort to eventually break his will."

He added that he believes Assange "has a very strong case, and a very reasonable fear, that if he gets extradited to the Unites States he has no chance to get a fair trial with the level of public and official prejudice that exists there for him".

Mr Melzer added that, because of his treatment, his health was at serious risk.

"We could see that Assange showed all the symptoms that are typical for prolonged exposure to psychological torture," he said.

Assange, he said, needs access to a psychiatrist who is "not part of the prison service - someone he can fully trust" - to avoid his health deteriorating further.

UN Human Rights, Office of the High Commisioner

"In 20 years of work with victims of war, violence and political persecution I have never seen a group of democratic States ganging up to deliberately isolate, demonise and abuse a single individual for such a long time and with so little regard for human dignity and the rule of law," Melzer said. "The collective persecution of Julian Assange must end here and now!"

Guardian

"Physically there were ailments but that side of things are being addressed by the prison health service and there was nothing urgent or dangerous in that way," Melzer said.

"What was worrying was the psychological side and his constant anxiety. It was perceptible that he had a sense of being under threat from everyone. He understood what my function was but it's more that he was extremely agitated and busy with his own thoughts. It was difficult to have a very structured conversation with him."
...
The lawyer, who receives 10 to 15 requests each day from sources asking for him to get involved, said that his office had been approached by Assange's lawyers in December. But he said that he was initially reluctant to do so, admitting he was affected by what he called the "prejudice" around the case.

However, he began looking into the case again in March and, earlier this week, wrote letters to the foreign ministers of the US, the UK and Sweden.

"In the course of the past nine years, Mr Assange has been exposed to persistent, progressively severe abuse ranging from systematic judicial persecution and arbitrary confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy, to his oppressive isolation, harassment and surveillance inside the embassy, and from deliberate collective ridicule, insults and humiliation, to open instigation of violence and even repeated calls for his assassination," Melzer will say on Friday.

Original Submission