A lawyer for Julian Assange has urged the UN to make an official visit to see how the WikiLeaks founder has been affected by living inside the Ecuadorian embassy for the past six years.
Jennifer Robinson told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Mr Assange was unable to obtain proper medical attention and was being denied sunlight or outdoor access.
A vigil will be held outside the embassy in London tonight, six years to the day since he arrived, later to be granted political asylum by the South American country.
Jennifer Robinson told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that Mr Assange (pictured on the balcony of the embassy last year) was unable to obtain proper medical attention and was being denied sunlight or outdoor access
Ms Robinson told the UN that the British authorities had made it clear that if Mr Assange leaves the embassy to seek medical treatment he will be arrested.
The US administration has said that prosecuting him is a ‘priority’, said Ms Robinson.
‘He cannot leave the embassy because the UK will not provide assurances against extradition to the US.
‘The UK is showing deliberate disregard for his medical needs,’ she said, adding that the UN should send a special rapporteur to visit the embassy.
His confinement in the embassy is having a ‘severe impact’ on his physical and mental health, she said.
He was being asked to choose between his human right to asylum and his human right to medical treatment, said Ms Robinson, adding: ‘No-one should have to make that choice.’
Protesters gather to support Julian Assange outside the British consulate in Melbourne, Australia, at a separate rally in the WikiLeaks founder’s home country
John Shipton, the father of Julian Assange attends a rally outside the British consulate in Melbourne today. A vigil in London is planned for tonight
Mr Assange is wanted by the Metropolitan Police for breaching bail conditions in 2012.
An international arrest warrant was issued for Mr Assange in 2010 after Swedish authorities said they wished to speak to him in connection with a rape investigation.
Sweden, however, binned the probe last year.
Ms Robinson reminded the council that in 2016 the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that Mr Assange was being arbitrarily detained.
It called on the Swedish and British authorities to end his ‘deprivation of liberty, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the right to compensation’.
Mr Assange’s internet access was cut off in March and restrictions were placed on who can visit him after he tweeted his support for separatist movements in Catalonia in Spain.
Ms Robinson visited him earlier this month, with officials from the Australian High Commission in London.