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Julian Assange is free. The Wikileaks founder spent his first night in freedom with his family. Now there are concerns about his health.
Canberra – After the release and return of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange According to his wife, the health consequences of the long imprisonment are still unclear. “We are worried,” Stella Assange said on Thursday morning on the broadcaster’s breakfast television 7News.
The seven years that the Australian spent in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the five years of imprisonment in the British maximum security prison Belmarsh had left their mark. “He had to endure these hardships both mentally and physically,” stressed the 40-year-old lawyer.
Assange has been confined to four walls for all these years. “This is obviously having a serious impact on his health and we will definitely try to have all the necessary tests carried out to see what his true state is,” Stella Assange continued. Julian Assange has not yet made any public statements since returning home to Australia on Wednesday evening (local time).
Imprisoned for years: very harsh prison conditions for Wikileaks founder Assange
A US court on the Mariana Island of Saipan – a US territory in the Western Pacific – had on Wednesday approved a deal between the Australian and the American judiciary in connection with Espionage allegations approved. Assange is now a free man after 14 years of legal battles. From 2010 onwards, Wikileaks published secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan by whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
![This picture shows Wikileaks founder Julian Assange on board a private jet before his return to Australia.](https://www.merkur.de/assets/images/34/925/34925028-dieses-bild-zeigt-wikileaks-gruender-julian-assange-an-bord-eines-privatjets-vor-seiner-rueckkehr-nach-australien-QFBG.jpg)
Assange had never met his wife in freedom until arriving in Canberra: the relationship between the two only began during his time in the Ecuadorian embassy. In 2022, the couple, who have two children, married in Belmarsh Prison. According to Wikileaks, Assange was held in solitary confinement in a very small cell for 23 hours a day.
Stella Assange went on to say that her husband now wants to spend time with his two young sons. “It will be a process – he was imprisoned and locked up under very harsh conditions. To date, we have not been able to lead a normal family life.” Assange now needs privacy and time: “We will let him decide for himself how he wants to spend his days and his time now.” (dpa/frs)
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