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Supporters of Julian Assange protest outside the High Court in London (archive image)
Photo: ANDY RAIN / EPA
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange suffered a minor stroke in prison at the end of October, according to a media report.
The British newspaper "The Mail on Sunday" reported that his fiancée Stella Moris was responsible for the extreme stress caused by the fight against extradition to the USA.
The 50-year-old had a drooping right eyelid, memory problems and signs of neurological damage.
Moris was quoted as saying that she feared this mini-stroke heralded a bigger one.
She herself shared the link to the report on Twitter.
“He has to be released.
Now, ”she wrote.
According to the newspaper, the stroke occurred on October 27th - on the day the extradition proceedings against the native Australian had continued in an appeals court.
Court lifted extradition ban
Assange appeared at the time during the hearing surprisingly via video switch to follow the hearing from the prison, after his lawyer had previously apologized.
The 50-year-old's medication had been re-dosed and he felt that his health was not in a position to follow the procedure, it said at the time.
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WikiLeaks founder: US pushes for Assange's extradition
Assange has been in the maximum security Belmarsh Prison for over two years.
The US judiciary is trying to extradite him so that he can be tried on charges of espionage.
He is accused of stealing and publishing secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan with whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
He faces up to 175 years imprisonment in the United States.
The London Court of Appeal lifted the extradition ban to the United States on Friday.
Assange must now expect to be extradited to the United States after all.
Assange's defense attorneys announced that they would appeal the decision.
gro / dpa