Julian Assange is moved to hospital wing of Belmarsh prison amid 'grave concerns' for his health - just hours before he is due to appear in court today to fight extradition to the US
- Comes a day before he is due to appear in court for a US extradition hearing
- WikiLeaks said its founder's health has deteriorated into 'dramatic' weight loss
- They claim he was incapable of holding a basic conversation with his lawyer
- Assange is serving 50 weeks in HMP Belmarsh for skipping bail in 2012
Julian Assange has been moved to the hospital wing of Belmarsh prison amid 'grave concerns' for his health.
The WikiLeaks founder is said to have suffered 'dramatic weightloss' and continued ill health since being jailed for 50 weeks for skipping bail back in 2012.
Assange, 47, is due to appear in court in London later today as he continues to fight extradition to the United States after being hit with hacking and espionage charges.
Meanwhile, an investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies, has been reopened by Swedish prosecutors.
WikiLeaks said last night that after spending seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London, Assange's health had deteriorated so much that he is now incapable of even holding a conversation.
Julian Assange has reportedly been moved the hospital wing of HMP Belmarsh following a 'dramatic' loss of weight
In a statement, the organisation said: 'WikiLeaks has grave concerns about the state of health of our publisher, Julian Assange, who has been moved to the health ward of Belmarsh prison.
'Mr Assange's health had already significantly deteriorated after seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, under conditions that were incompatible with basic human rights.'
Wikileaks added: 'During the seven weeks in Belmarsh his health has continued to deteriorate and he has dramatically lost weight.
'The decision of prison authorities to move him to the ward speaks for itself.'
His move to the Belmarsh hospital wing comes just a day before the WikiLeaks founder (left, when he arrived at court in April, left, and in 2011, right) is due to appear in court for a hearing on his extradition to the United States to face espionage charges
The statement added: 'Defence lawyer for Assange, Per Samuelson said that Julian Assange's health state last Friday was such 'that it was not possible to conduct a normal conversation with him.''
Assange is expected to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court via videolink later today for a hearing about his extradition request after the US brought charges for hacking 750,000 classified documents, which carries a five-year sentence.
The Australian's second extradition hearing is not expected to be a full hearing on the matter.
Assange formally refused to consent to being extradited during a hearing which lasted a little over 10 minutes on May 2.
After he was booted out of the Ecuadorian Embassy last month, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in the Category A prison in Thamesmead (HMP Belmarsh pictured) for breaching his bail terms in 2012 to escape being extradited to Sweden for sexual offence charges
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Last Thursday, the Trump administration ramped up extradition efforts by inditing Assange on espionage charges for publishing classified military documents.
Meanwhile, an investigation into rape allegations against Assange, which he denies, has been reopened by Swedish prosecutors who have requested Uppsala District Court detains him in his absence.
Deputy director of public prosecution Eva-Marie Persson said if the court decides to detain Assange, she 'will issue a European Arrest Warrant concerning surrender to Sweden'.
'In the event of a conflict between a European Arrest Warrant and a request for extradition from the US, UK authorities will decide on the order of priority,' she said.
Assange sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2012 after the leaks of hundreds of thousands of classified US diplomatic cables on his whistleblowing website.
He took refuge inside after exhausting all legal options in fighting extradition to Sweden over two separate claims, one of rape and one of molestation.
On April 11, Assange (pictured 2014 in the embassy) was dragged kicking and screaming from the London embassy where he had been holed up for seven years
Also this month, the Ecuadorian government confirmed officials were searching through Assange's belongings left at its embassy following a request from the United States.
In a statement published online, the Ecuadorian government said the search was to identify and confiscate belongings of Assange that could offer clues to possible criminal activity.
The search was being carried out under the authorisation of a judge and following a request for judicial assistance from the US, the statement said.
Just days later, Assange was charged in the United States with receiving and publishing thousands of classified documents linked to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The US Justice Department has indicted Assange on 18 counts that relate to his 'alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States', it said.
He is accused of working with former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in 'unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to the national defence', a statement said.
The Justice Department said that by publishing unredacted versions of the leaked files, Assange put 'named human sources at a grave and imminent risk'.
After a federal grand jury returned the indictment, WikiLeaks swiftly issued a tweet describing the move as 'madness'.
Last week, Home Secretary Sajid Javid was urged by WikiLeaks to block Assange's extradition to the US in the name of press freedom.
The organisation said Mr Javid was under 'enormous pressure to protect the rights of the free press in the UK and elsewhere' after its founder was hit with the raft of new charges by the US Department of Justice.
Assange is serving a 50-week sentence in Belmarsh Prison in London for bail violations.
MailOnline has approached the Ministry of Justice for comment.
