Edward Snowden on assange: what the evidence says · JRE #1536
SUBJECT: ASSANGE
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
Well, Julian Assange has literally been tortured.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
Snowden's claim echoes an assessment by Nils Melzer, who as UN Special Rapporteur on Torture visited Julian Assange at Belmarsh Prison in May 2019 and, with two forensic medical experts, concluded he showed symptoms consistent with prolonged psychological torture. That finding was reiterated in a June 2020 letter to The Lancet signed by 216 physicians organized as "Doctors for Assange," which characterized Assange's treatment as ongoing psychological torture and cited conditions including prolonged solitary confinement and restricted access to counsel. However, a UN Special Rapporteur's assessment and a physicians' advocacy letter are expert opinions, not binding judicial or treaty-body determinations, and the characterization has been disputed by the government bodies involved. Presenting "tortured" as a settled, literal fact therefore overstates the certainty of what remains a documented but contested and non-adjudicated expert characterization, even though credentialed experts have found symptoms consistent with psychological torture.