WIKILEAKS publisher Julian Assange had a mini-stroke during his battle to avoid extradition from Britain to the United States (US), said his fiancée Stella Moris.

She said it happened in late October, on the first day of a US government appeal against a ruling blocking his removal.

“He needs to be freed. Now,” she tweeted late yesterday.

The Mail on Sunday paper said it was a transient ischaemic attack, in which the blood supply to part of the brain is temporarily interrupted.

The paper said this left Assange, 50, with a drooping right eyelid, memory loss and signs of neurological damage, adding that he is now taking medication.

Moris, the mother of Assange’s two young children, was quoted as saying she is concerned it may lead to a more major stroke, and raised fears of his ability to withstand the extradition process.

“I believe this constant chess game, battle after battle, the extreme stress is what caused the stroke on October 27.”

The US wants to put Assange on trial for WikiLeaks’ publication of thousands of top-secret military documents about the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010.

His supporters’ hopes were raised in January, after a judge in London blocked the extradition on grounds that he is a suicide risk if transferred to US custody.

But these hopes were dashed on Friday, when two appeal judges overturned the decision after accepting US government assurances that he will receive treatment and not be held in punishing isolation in custody.

Assange’s lawyers say they will take the case to the Supreme Court. They have previously raised concerns about the effects of his lengthy incarceration on his physical and mental health in a bid to halt the extradition.

Assange spent seven years in the London embassy in Ecuador until 2019, after jumping bail in connection with sexual assault allegations in Sweden.

He was then jailed for breaching bail for 50 weeks in that case, which was later dropped, but detained ever since on the grounds he is a flight risk. – AFP, December 12, 2021.