(LONDON, U.K.) Lawyers representing Julian Assange will make a bail application for the imprisoned journalist this week.
The 48-year-old is being held on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh while awaiting the next phase of his United States extradition hearings.
Lawyers for the Australian national will argue he is vulnerable to the COVID-19 outbreak in making the bail request at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday (March 25).
Assange campaigners echoed the demands and called for the release of all low-risk prisoners to slow the spread of the virus.
Last week, Andrea Albutt, the President of the Prison Governors Association, warned there will be deaths in U.K. prisons as a result of the pandemic.
The Howard League for Penal Reform also wrote to the Ministry of Justice suggesting actions that could be taken to protect inmates and staff given the “unhygienic” prison conditions.
A number of countries worldwide including Spain and the United States have started temporarily releasing low-risk offenders.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the U.K. national detained in Iran, was temporarily released from a jail in Tehran last week.