London: Wikileaks founder Julian Assange "could die in prison" if he is not given urgent medical care, a group of doctors warned on Monday. In an open letter to the UK's Home Secretary Priti Patel, a team of 60 international doctors said the 48-year-old Australian should be moved out of the high-security Belmarsh prison in London to receive an assessment at a university hospital, Efe news reported. Assange is facing an extradition process lodged by the US under the Espionage Act. "It is our opinion that Assange requires an urgent expert medical assessment of both his physical and psychological state of health," the doctors said. "Any medical treatment indicated should be administered in a properly equipped and expertly staffed university teaching hospital (tertiary care). "Were such urgent assessment and treatment not to take place, we have real concerns, on the evidence currently available, that Assange could die in prison." "The medical situation is thereby urgent. There is no time to lose."
Assange rose to international attention nine years ago after WikiLeaks published leaked military information provided by former US Army soldier Chelsea Manning, which prompted the United States government to launch a criminal investigation into the publisher. (IANS)