concern that Assange’s health was so bad he could die in prison without urgent medical care.

Assange appeared in a Madrid court via videolink from the UK on 20 December as part of an investigation into his allegations that a Spanish firm spied on him while he lived inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

RSF has previously condemned the US government’s targeting of Assange for his journalistic-like activities, as classified documents leaked by WikiLeaks led to journalistic revelations that were in the public interest. Assange should not be prosecuted for being an intermediary between a whistleblower and media outlets. In the US, Assange faces a total of 18 charges, 17 of them under the Espionage Act, which has been increasingly used by the Trump administration to target reporting and whistleblowingprotect whistleblowers; defendants are not permitted to present a public interest defence, and prosecutors need only show that the leak could have harmed national security – not that it actually did. RSF worries that targeting Assange under the Espionage Act could set a dangerous precedent.

RSF has also condemned the decision by the UK Home Office to green-light the US extradition request. Assange currently remains detained at Belmarsh prison, awaiting his US extradition hearing, after receiving a 50-week sentence in May 2019 for breaking bail by seeking refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in June 2012, where he remained until his removal and arrest in April 2019.

The US and UK are currently ranked 48th and 33rd respectively in RSF’s 2019 World Press Freedom Index.