Is Assange Ill Or Are His Hosts Getting Sick Of Him?

[struggle4progress]

Posted by: Linda Carbonell on October 25, 2012.

Could the Ecuadoreans be getting tired of their house guest?

In Moscow, Vice Foreign Minister Marco Albuja Martinez was quoted on Voice of Russia radio on Wednesday as saying, “Assange has grown noticeably thinner, and we are very concerned about his health. If he falls ill, we will have to choose between two alternatives: to treat Assange in the embassy or hospitalize him. This is a very serious stiuation and it can affect Assange’s human rights.”

In Quito, Ecuador, later in the day, Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino told reporters that he is worried about Assange’s health over time. Ecuador has asked the British government for a “safe passage” that would allow Assange to seek medical treatment if needed. “It’s obvious that his health will deteriorate and we don’t have a protocol, we don’t have the necessary conditions... I still haven’t had a response from Britain to see what we do if Mr. Julian Assange has an emergency…At this point, the threat that they will arrest him if he sets foot outside the embassy still stands.” Patino said the Assange is “suffering” ...

The British Foreign Office said, “Ecuador have not told us that Mr. Assange is ill. However, were they to do so, we would consider the matter” ...

http://lezgetreal.com/2012/10/is-assange-ill-or-are-his-hosts-getting-sick-of-him/

[struggle4progress]

1. Ecuador seeks Julian Assange hospital assurances

25 October 2012 Last updated at 13:54 ET

... As a result of the government of Britain's not giving safe passage, Julian Assange's health most certainly is beginning to be jeopardised and this is very serious," Mr Patino said ...

The UK Foreign Office said Mr Patino had "expressed interest" in meeting Mr Hague "and we are waiting for him to suggest suitable dates".

"We remain fully committed to seeking a diplomatic solution with the government of Ecuador, but we must ensure that our laws are respected and followed," a spokesperson said.

"The UK authorities would not prevent Mr Assange from receiving any medical care that he requires" ...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20088972

[struggle4progress]

2. Ecuador 'gravely concerned' about health of Assange

By Anne Sewell
Oct 25, 2012

... Vice Foreign Minister, Marco Albuja Martinez told RT in an exclusive interview, “We have officially asked the UK for safe passage. But we are concerned that while UK authorities mull over the decision, Julian Assange’s health may break down completely.”

News.com.au reports Martinez as saying, “Assange has grown noticeably thinner and we are very concerned about his health,” Martinez said ...

While Martinez did not specify the medical problems involved, he did note that Assange had lost weight and said that denying him proper facilities for treatment would be “an issue of human rights.”

Recent photos of Assange show that the 41-year-old is looking pale and gaunt, as with the image above of his recent speech to the UN General Assembly, and he has complained of a "racking cough." He does, however, exercise daily with a personal trainer ...

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/335474

[struggle4progress]

3. Ecuador worried about Assange's health

He is losing weight, vision and has a bit of a cough
25 Oct 2012 08:42 | by Nick Farrell in Rome

... Ecuador said it had asked the British government for written assurances that Assange, who has been granted asylum by Quito, will not be arrested in the event he has to go to hospital.

It is not clear why the British would actually give this assurance to a person who is not one of its citizens and who has played the justice system for more than a year.

After all, based on his previous behaviour Assange might just sneak of to an airport and escape to Ecuador. When you arrive you give a snarky press conference about how you defeated a plot by MI6 to keep you locked up in an embassy. Weight loss and eye sight problems are fairly easy to fake, you just eat less for a few months and walk into a few walls. He has moaned to the press that he has a bit of a cough too.

His weight loss might also be due to the fact that he works out every day now using a running machine, boxing and working out every other day with a personal trainer ...

http://news.techeye.net/security/ecuador-worried-about-assanges-health

[struggle4progress]

4. Ecuador seeks Britain meeting over Assange health

AFP) – 1 day ago

... Ecuador's Deputy Foreign Minister Marco Albuja also expressed concern for Assange's well-being, telling Voice of Russia radio as an Ecuadoran delegation wrapped up a Russia visit that "Assange has visibly lost weight, and we are very concerned for his health."

"In case of his illness we will have to pick among two options: to treat Mr Assange at the embassy or to hospitalize him."

Albuja said that Britain so far has not agreed to its request of safe passage for Assange, but "is thinking it over."

However, Britain's Foreign Office told AFP on Wednesday that it had not yet received a request ...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hVTxi3-i7tS41e07PNajN7_vdzHA?docId=CNG.3793d4e5cdb4c22580dc6d86ea1ac7fc.241

[struggle4progress]

5. Ecuador Says Julian Assange is Sick, Requests Safe Passage for Medical Treatment

By Erik Pineda | October 25, 2012 4:56 PM EST

... The development, Reuters said, confirmed earlier reports by BBC that Mr Assange was looking pale in a recent interview, although the Australian national had also indicated that he was exercising regularly and eating the right food ...

http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/397974/20121025/ecuador-julian-assange-sick-requests-safe-passage.htm

[struggle4progress]

6. Ecuador Wants Talks With U.K. on Health of Wikileaks’s Assange

By Nathan Gill on October 25, 2012

... A telephone message for U.K. Foreign Secretary William Hague, left after normal business hours, wasn’t immediately returned ...

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-10-25/ecuador-wants-talks-with-u-dot-k-dot-on-health-of-wikileaks-s-assange

[Ya Basta]

7. Perhaps something like this

[struggle4progress]

8. Assange vows to stay in embassy until US backs off

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange says the US must give up its "immoral" inquiry into his website before he considers leaving the Ecuadorean embassy.
26 Oct 2012 15:39 - Reuters

Assange has been sheltering in the embassy since June to avoid extradition to Sweden to face rape and sexual assault allegations. Britain says it is obliged to send him to Sweden and will not let him to go to Ecuador ...

Challenged in a CNN interview in the embassy that he could not stay there forever, Assange said:

"I think we need the US government to drop its investigation ... It's an immoral investigation. It breaches the First Amendment. It breaches all the principles that the United States government says that it stands for and it absolutely breaches the principles that the US founding fathers stood for and which most of the US people believe in" ...

"But I've been in solitary confinement. I know what life is like for prisoners – it's a lot better than it is for prisoners" ...

http://mg.co.za/article/2012-10-26-assange-vows-to-stay-in-embassy-until-us-backs-off

[randome]

10. So now he's changed his terms.

Before it was that he wanted assurances he would not be extradited to the U.S. Now it's simply that the U.S. allows Wikileaks to steal whatever it wants.

[CabCurious]

16. He demands to be above all laws and accountability as a matter of morality...

Because he's special.

[msanthrope]

9. Sweden has excellent health care. nt

[Comrade Grumpy]

11. Nice churlish smear. Typical for this Assange-obsessed poster.

[struggle4progress]

12. eight links with excerpts from me -- and none from you

[struggle4progress]

13. Assange 'fit and well' on TV show

Assange 'fit and well' on TV show
AFP
October 27, 20125:43AM

JULIAN Assange has appeared fit and well in a new television interview, despite concerns about his health.

The 41-year-old Australian looked healthy in the interview with US network CNN aired on Friday.

The interview was recorded on Wednesday, the same day Ecuador said it had requested a meeting with Britain to discuss his health, claiming he was losing weight and suffering vision problems ....

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/ecuador-sweden-can-interrogate-assange-at-embassy/story-fnd134gw-1226504324118

[struggle4progress]

14. Assange: How notoriety has changed a trapped man

By Atika Shubert, CNN
October 27, 2012 -- Updated 1002 GMT (1802 HKT)

London (CNN) -- The last time I sat down to interview Julian Assange more than a year ago, he walked out on me, angered by questions about the allegations of sexual assault in Sweden.

This time, holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, he had nowhere to go when asked the same question ...

But when I met him again, Assange did not seem cornered at all. He was relaxed and friendly. Rumors of ill health, that he had lost a lot of weight, did not appear to be true.

He seemed at ease and, despite being confined largely to a small room in this tiny embassy, comfortable. And as if to prove there were no hard feelings, I received a warm kiss on the cheek ...

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/26/world/europe/wikileaks-assange-color/

[SomethingFishy]

15. American doesn't give a shit either way about Assange.

And cannot for the life of him figure out this bizarre obsession DU has with him.

[AntiFascist]

17. What a ghoulish thread...

just in time for Halloween.

Apparently, he just needs better nutrition, and it might help if people stop bringing him alcohol.

[struggle4progress]

18. Assange is well - but in need of fresh vegetables, says Westwood

EMILY DUGAN
SUNDAY 28 OCTOBER 2012

... Westwood said: "When I went to see him I realised the best thing I can do is get people to bring lots of raw vegetables that he can grate up and eat. I took him some booze and he said 'that's what everyone brings me, but what I'd really like is an apple or something'. He's eating those dreadful microwave meals. I took him a bottle of red wine because that's my favourite" ...

Since Assange skipped his bail terms and sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy, those who provided sureties are now having to pay up. Following a negotiation over the "exceptional case", the amounts demanded have been reduced, but Assange's high-profile backers still have to pay £93,500 within the next 10 days or face jail.

Sarah Saunders, a chef whose East Sussex cottage Assange shared in the latter part of his house-arrest, says she will have to empty out her savings to pay the £12,000. "It's all my savings. My children are all grown up but it does have an effect on what I can do for the rest of my life" ...

Vaughan Smith, who owns the Norfolk manor house where Assange originally stayed, will have to pay £12,000. Though significantly less than the £20,000 he pledged, the request for money has still come as a shock. He said: "It's not money I have in the bank - I'll have to borrow it. We will clearly feel it. Over the summer because of the Olympics we didn't get the trade in the restaurant and then farming hasn't been doing very well because of the weather, so my situation isn't as good as it might have been" ...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/assange-is-well--but-in-need-of-fresh-vegetables-says-westwood-8229481.html