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by nabla9 2365 days ago
Nils Melzer, the UN special rapporteur on torture has said that Assange is not held in solitary confinement at HMP Belmarsh. Melzer objected against the limited ability of Assange to prepare his legal case.

It seems that John Shipton (father of Assange) used therm solitary confinement to describe situation where Assange's access to outside is limited to his lawyers and family.

I thing Assage is currently in the the prison’s medical ward.

1 comments

Melzer was pretty specific and his concerns are not just about "access to legal counsel".

> «He continues to be detained under oppressive conditions of isolation and surveillance, not justified by his detention status,” said Melzer

Melzer fairly clearly states that he believes there is credible evidence that Assange has been subjected to psychological torture.

"Isolation and detained" refers to his condition being held in jail. He is not in solitary confinement. Melzer arguent opinion that Assagne should should be released and not be detained.

>Although Mr. Assange is not being held in solitary confinement, Mr. Melzer said he was gravely concerned over the limited frequency and duration of lawyers’ visits and lack of access to case files, which make it impossible to prepare and adequate defense.

sources:

https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/05/1039581

https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?N...