US News

Julian Assange transferred to UK prison’s segregation unit, to get limited internet access

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been transferred to the segregation unit of London’s Wandsworth prison and will get limited access to the internet, The Guardian newspaper reported Thursday.

The paper said Assange is thought to have asked to be housed separately from other prisoners.

Earlier, Sky News reported some inmates were pushing notes of support under his cell door saying things like “Hi Julian — good luck,” “Sorry you’re in here — it’s wrong” and “We are one within here — Merry Christmas.”

Another reportedly said, “Dear Julian, welcome to the real Frontline Club,” referring to the journalists’ club in London where he was staying before his arrest.

Assange, 39, who is accused of sex offenses in Sweden, was refused bail at an extradition hearing earlier this week.

The Guardian, which was one of five news outlets given advance access to the latest WikiLeaks release of some 250,000 American diplomatic cables, quoted his lawyer, Mark Stephens, as saying Assange was “quite chipper — he seemed to be bearing up.”

Stephens said Assange had complained about daytime television and added “he doesn’t have access to a computer, even without an internet connection, or to writing material. He’s got some files but doesn’t have any paper to write on and put them in,” The Guardian reported.

Assange reportedly asked for his personal laptop to be brought into the jail but was refused by prison authorities. However, he will gain access to a computer with limited web access that he can use to work on his case under a British prison initiative named “access to justice.”

Assange, an Australian citizen, was also visited by officials from the Australian High Commission Thursday.

Sky said he was keen to dismiss what he called “lies” about WikiLeaks and the recent computer hacking of private companies and that he believed there was a “deliberate attempt to conflate the hacking attacks and WikiLeaks.”