[lmg643]

Are we sure that Assange is better off in the UK? Reports from other sources suggest he is being kept in terrible conditions in UK as well.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/julian-assange-is-kept-u...

>> "Each day Julian is woken at 5 am, handcuffed, put in holding cells, stripped naked, and x-rayed. He is transported 1.5 hours each way in what feels like a vertical coffin in a claustrophobic van,” Morris said.

>> The lawyer pointed out that during the criminal hearings Assange is kept in a glass box at the back of court from where he cannot his lawyers properly.

[agd]

Certainly better in the UK than the US. He gets to see family and has contact with support including calls with e.g. the Samaritans.

[Chris2048]

> Each day Julian is ... x-rayed

Wait, what? This can't be true - daily x-rays would guarantee cell/DNA damage.

[HideousKojima]

I think they meant put through a metal detector? Assange was put on suicide watch (whether justifiedly or not I do not know) so presumably they're checking for weapons he could harm himself with, still seems like overkill though.

[randylahey]

Could just be sloppy, inaccurate writing. But yeah that would be pretty bad.

[tyingq]

It's a direct quote from his fiancé, who is also a lawyer and part of his defense team: https://twitter.com/StellaMoris1/status/1306205472521891840?...

I can't vouch for the analysis here, but this is interesting. It's an FOIA request that seems to show the equipment being used. https://wiseupaction.info/2020/10/15/julian-assange-was-x-ra...

[hunter2_]

That second link says "each full body scan of an individual would generate 6 Micro Sieverts (µSv)" so 2 scans per day would be 12 µSv, and a dose chart [0] shows the average daily background dose to be 10 µSv while a flight from NY to LA is 40 µSv. So it's a bit like taking that flight every 3.3 days. So maybe it's no worse than being a pilot / flight attendant?

[0] https://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/the-daily-need/how-muc...

[542354234235]

2 scans a day for 1 year would be 4,380 µSv, or 4.3 mSv. The yearly dose limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) is 1 mSv per year for the general public, and 20 mSv for “occupationally exposed workers” [1]. Since Assange is receiving this for very specific reasons, I don’t think he would fall into the general public. So he is receiving less than a quarter of what is considered max safe for a radiation worker. For further comparison, long haul airline pilots receive and average of 2.94 mSv/year [2] and “diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiotherapy workers were found to be 0.66, 1.56, and 0.28 mSv, respectively” [3]. So he could be on the high end when compared to medical workers and pilots, while still being well under the safe max limits.

[1] https://radiopaedia.org/articles/dose-limits?lang=us

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5019040/

[3] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S165836551...

[hunter2_]

Thanks, this is very informative. Does the peakiness of being subject to X-ray scanning (a duty cycle like 500ms on, 12hr off) come into play when comparing with those other occupations, though?

[Enginerrrd]

Pilots get a lot of radiation exposure though! It's not to be casually dismissed.

[saagarjha]

Do they ever get pulled off of flights to reduce their cumulative radiation exposure?

[CryptoPunk]

12 µSv in two 500 ms bursts is very different 12 µSv spread out over 1 hour of flight time.

The difference in intensity is 3,600 fold. It's the difference between being subjected to 1 hour of 30 degree celcius heat and 1 second of 108,000 degree celcius heat.

[hunter2_]

To bolster your argument: only the Kelvin scale is eligible for multiplication operations, so 30C * 3600 = 1,091,067C when converting to K and back.

On the other hand: I expect 500 ms of such extreme heat would instantly kill a human, although I'm having a hard time finding an answer for such a short time scale. Since X-ray imaging doesn't instantly kill, it's apples and oranges, but point taken.

[handelaar]

This is not a description of how he's being treated as a prisoner, but rather specifically as a prisoner who is being transported between a prison and a courthouse during a trial or hearing.

So... somewhat disingenuous.

[pantalaimon]

on what charges is he being held in the UK?

[jamie_ca]

Arrested in 2019 when his Ecuadorian asylum was revoked, charged with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion, maximum 5y sentence. Was changed a month later to be the Espionage Act charges.

Those all stem from the US though, I think he's only detained by the UK for extradition?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indictment_and_arrest_of_Julia...

[pmyteh]

Yes. We prosecuted him for jumping bail by going to the embassy, but he's served his sentence for that. He's only being held for possible extradition.

[handelaar]

And for breaking the terms of his bail conditions by legging it to the Ecuadorian embassy in the first place.

[occamrazor]

For skipping bail