June 2019. Julian Assange has suffered “prolonged exposure to psychological torture”, the UN’s torture expert has said. Nils Melzer urged Britain not to extradite the Wikileaks founder, warning that his human rights would be violated and that he is not fit to stand trial. He also accused “several democratic states” of a “concerted effort to break [Assange’s] will”. But the UK foreign secretary said Assange “chose to hide” from justice. In a tweet Jeremy Hunt said Mr Melzer “should allow British courts to make their judgements without his interference or inflammatory accusations”.