٠٠:٠٨:١٥Human rights activist and journalist Martin Gottesfeld - formerly imprisoned in the US for a cyberattack - claimed on Thursday that there was a 'substantial' chance that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would die in prison if he was extradited from the UK.
"You know, Jeffery Epstein died in you know, similar kind of instance in a you know, special housing unit that's used to keep a close eye on people the government thinks may try to publish dangerous information,” Gottesfeld alleged. Convicted sex offender Epstein's death in custody in 2019 was ruled as suicide by hanging.
“Unfortunately, yes, I think Julian does face a, a very real substantial non-trivial chance that he will perish in this system and that he will perish under unconscionable atrocious and unconstitutional circumstances," he added.
On Assange's specific case, Gottesfeld said he believed that the WikiLeaks founder was 'being punished' for 'telling the truth', claiming that the US government wants to 'suppress' Assange and prevent him from leaking more information about 'Washington or its misdeeds'.
“I think it is also a test case. Washington wants to see just how far it can go in curtailing journalism and curtailing truth from coming out about the government's own war crimes and misconduct,” Gottesfeld alleged.
“If they succeed in this case it does set a very very dangerous precedent where no journalist anywhere in the world should ever feel safe telling the truth about Washington ever again. That is what is at stake here and nothing less," he added.
Gottesfeld himself was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for what authorities claimed was a 'denial of service' attack on Boston Children's hospital, which he said was to draw attention to a specific patient's case. The journalist was incarcerated in a Communications Management Unit (CMU) jail, a type of prison designed to restrict and monitor all outside communication.
"After I wrote an article for The Intercept about the conditions at… [New York correctional] facility, 12 days later I was moved to the Communications Management unit at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana,” the journalist continued.
“It was opened in 2006 during the Bush 'War on Terror'. The justification to the public to fund it was that the administration would hold Al-Qaeda guys and Jihadi-type guys at this facility and mine their communications for intelligence,” he added.
While discussing life in the CMU, Gottesfeld claimed prison authorities use 'classic interrogation techniques' and 'make themselves your only ally'.
"So, you're cut off largely from your family, from your attorneys, from your support base. They use that in ways both subtle and overt to try to mess with you,” he said.
Gottesfeld also alleged that the CMU had no air conditioning, adding that he was 'surprised' that more inmates have not suffered from heat stroke.
“It is essentially an oven in July and you essentially bake in your cell. If there is a lockdown, and there were several lockdowns that lasted several days during the summer, you were just stuck in sweltering heat with nowhere to go,” he said.
The US Federal Bureau of Prisons has not commented on the claims made. According to media reports, CMUs are built to limit communication with the outside world, restricting visitations and phone calls. The bureau says inmates have the right of appeal 'through the established Administrative Remedy Program'.
Julian Assange is wanted by US authorities on 18 charges, following the publication of thousands of military and diplomatic documents relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Last week, his lawyers sought leave to appeal his extradition to the United States at London's High Court. Last year, a judge ruled that Assange had no legal grounds to challenge his extradition, which was approved in 2022 by then-home secretary Priti Patel.
He remains in the UK’s Belmarsh Prison, where he has been held since being dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrested in April 2019.
'Substantial' chance Julian Assange 'will perish' in US jail - Formerly imprisoned journalist Gottesfeld
Human rights activist and journalist Martin Gottesfeld - formerly imprisoned in the US for a cyberattack - claimed on Thursday that there was a 'substantial' chance that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would die in prison if he was extradited from the UK.
"You know, Jeffery Epstein died in you know, similar kind of instance in a you know, special housing unit that's used to keep a close eye on people the government thinks may try to publish dangerous information,” Gottesfeld alleged. Convicted sex offender Epstein's death in custody in 2019 was ruled as suicide by hanging.
“Unfortunately, yes, I think Julian does face a, a very real substantial non-trivial chance that he will perish in this system and that he will perish under unconscionable atrocious and unconstitutional circumstances," he added.
On Assange's specific case, Gottesfeld said he believed that the WikiLeaks founder was 'being punished' for 'telling the truth', claiming that the US government wants to 'suppress' Assange and prevent him from leaking more information about 'Washington or its misdeeds'.
“I think it is also a test case. Washington wants to see just how far it can go in curtailing journalism and curtailing truth from coming out about the government's own war crimes and misconduct,” Gottesfeld alleged.
“If they succeed in this case it does set a very very dangerous precedent where no journalist anywhere in the world should ever feel safe telling the truth about Washington ever again. That is what is at stake here and nothing less," he added.
Gottesfeld himself was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for what authorities claimed was a 'denial of service' attack on Boston Children's hospital, which he said was to draw attention to a specific patient's case. The journalist was incarcerated in a Communications Management Unit (CMU) jail, a type of prison designed to restrict and monitor all outside communication.
"After I wrote an article for The Intercept about the conditions at… [New York correctional] facility, 12 days later I was moved to the Communications Management unit at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana,” the journalist continued.
“It was opened in 2006 during the Bush 'War on Terror'. The justification to the public to fund it was that the administration would hold Al-Qaeda guys and Jihadi-type guys at this facility and mine their communications for intelligence,” he added.
While discussing life in the CMU, Gottesfeld claimed prison authorities use 'classic interrogation techniques' and 'make themselves your only ally'.
"So, you're cut off largely from your family, from your attorneys, from your support base. They use that in ways both subtle and overt to try to mess with you,” he said.
Gottesfeld also alleged that the CMU had no air conditioning, adding that he was 'surprised' that more inmates have not suffered from heat stroke.
“It is essentially an oven in July and you essentially bake in your cell. If there is a lockdown, and there were several lockdowns that lasted several days during the summer, you were just stuck in sweltering heat with nowhere to go,” he said.
The US Federal Bureau of Prisons has not commented on the claims made. According to media reports, CMUs are built to limit communication with the outside world, restricting visitations and phone calls. The bureau says inmates have the right of appeal 'through the established Administrative Remedy Program'.
Julian Assange is wanted by US authorities on 18 charges, following the publication of thousands of military and diplomatic documents relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Last week, his lawyers sought leave to appeal his extradition to the United States at London's High Court. Last year, a judge ruled that Assange had no legal grounds to challenge his extradition, which was approved in 2022 by then-home secretary Priti Patel.
He remains in the UK’s Belmarsh Prison, where he has been held since being dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrested in April 2019.
Human rights activist and journalist Martin Gottesfeld - formerly imprisoned in the US for a cyberattack - claimed on Thursday that there was a 'substantial' chance that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange would die in prison if he was extradited from the UK.
"You know, Jeffery Epstein died in you know, similar kind of instance in a you know, special housing unit that's used to keep a close eye on people the government thinks may try to publish dangerous information,” Gottesfeld alleged. Convicted sex offender Epstein's death in custody in 2019 was ruled as suicide by hanging.
“Unfortunately, yes, I think Julian does face a, a very real substantial non-trivial chance that he will perish in this system and that he will perish under unconscionable atrocious and unconstitutional circumstances," he added.
On Assange's specific case, Gottesfeld said he believed that the WikiLeaks founder was 'being punished' for 'telling the truth', claiming that the US government wants to 'suppress' Assange and prevent him from leaking more information about 'Washington or its misdeeds'.
“I think it is also a test case. Washington wants to see just how far it can go in curtailing journalism and curtailing truth from coming out about the government's own war crimes and misconduct,” Gottesfeld alleged.
“If they succeed in this case it does set a very very dangerous precedent where no journalist anywhere in the world should ever feel safe telling the truth about Washington ever again. That is what is at stake here and nothing less," he added.
Gottesfeld himself was sentenced to over 10 years in prison for what authorities claimed was a 'denial of service' attack on Boston Children's hospital, which he said was to draw attention to a specific patient's case. The journalist was incarcerated in a Communications Management Unit (CMU) jail, a type of prison designed to restrict and monitor all outside communication.
"After I wrote an article for The Intercept about the conditions at… [New York correctional] facility, 12 days later I was moved to the Communications Management unit at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terre Haute, Indiana,” the journalist continued.
“It was opened in 2006 during the Bush 'War on Terror'. The justification to the public to fund it was that the administration would hold Al-Qaeda guys and Jihadi-type guys at this facility and mine their communications for intelligence,” he added.
While discussing life in the CMU, Gottesfeld claimed prison authorities use 'classic interrogation techniques' and 'make themselves your only ally'.
"So, you're cut off largely from your family, from your attorneys, from your support base. They use that in ways both subtle and overt to try to mess with you,” he said.
Gottesfeld also alleged that the CMU had no air conditioning, adding that he was 'surprised' that more inmates have not suffered from heat stroke.
“It is essentially an oven in July and you essentially bake in your cell. If there is a lockdown, and there were several lockdowns that lasted several days during the summer, you were just stuck in sweltering heat with nowhere to go,” he said.
The US Federal Bureau of Prisons has not commented on the claims made. According to media reports, CMUs are built to limit communication with the outside world, restricting visitations and phone calls. The bureau says inmates have the right of appeal 'through the established Administrative Remedy Program'.
Julian Assange is wanted by US authorities on 18 charges, following the publication of thousands of military and diplomatic documents relating to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
Last week, his lawyers sought leave to appeal his extradition to the United States at London's High Court. Last year, a judge ruled that Assange had no legal grounds to challenge his extradition, which was approved in 2022 by then-home secretary Priti Patel.
He remains in the UK’s Belmarsh Prison, where he has been held since being dragged from the Ecuadorian Embassy and arrested in April 2019.