Julian Assange Is Kept Under Inhumane Conditions, Lawyer Says

Julian Assange's lawyer Stella Moris Wednesday denounced the living conditions of WikiLeaks' founder in the British maximum-security prison where he is awaiting a decision on his possible extradition to the U.S.

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"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.

On top of that, the journalist's cohort denounced that his physical condition has deteriorated due to alleged episodes of psychological torture. United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture Nils Melzer visited Assange in prison and confirmed the torture suspicions.

“I spoke with him for an hour... then we had a physical examination for an hour by our forensic expert, and then we had the two-hour psychiatric examination,“ he explained.

“We came to the conclusion, that he showed all the symptoms that are typical for a person that has been exposed to psychological torture over an extended period of time.”

Assange faces a 175-year prison sentence over 18 charges, mostly regarding violations under the Espionage Act.

U.S. authorities hope him to be extradited to its territory to stand trial over activities of his WikiLeaks website, in what has been called one of the largest leaks of classified information in the history.