Again, probably depends on which aspects of his treatment you're referring to.

The original quote spoke of "twice been stripped naked and searched, eleven times been handcuffed, and five times been locked up in different holding cells" - which is unpleasant treatment, but probably not hugely different from the treatment of many prisoners, fairly regularly, within our dehumanising criminal justice system. And I don't think it would constitute torture, per your definition.

That said, as another commenter added, he's apparently been in solitary confinement [for up to 23 hours a day[0] ] in a high category prison for a year. This sounds pretty awful, and much closer to a definition of "torture". That said, it's hard to know: maybe prisoners of his nature are routinely interned in Belmarsh? And maybe being in your cell for 23 hours a day is routine for prisoners in Belmarsh?

Would be interesting to know why it's taken a year for his case to be heard, though.

[0] https://inews.co.uk/news/julian-assange-solitary-confinement...

> but probably not hugely different from the treatment of many prisoners

It is, particularly for non-violent prisoners

> maybe prisoners of his nature are routinely interned in Belmarsh.

Its often used in high-profile cases.

> And maybe being in your cell for 23 hours a day is routine

It isn't. 60% of the cells at Belmarsh are multi occupancy and inmates at have access to education, workshops and gyms.

You seem to be casting doubt on a lot of claims, without putting in any effort to challenge your own assertions.

> It is, particularly for non-violent prisoners

You're going to need to show that "non violent prisoners" are not searched, nor handcuffed and uncuffed probably multiple times a day in the process of moving them from prison to court holding cells to court to court holding cells back to prison.

Easy. Take any politician involved in embezzlement. Even if they will do decades of jail, during their trial they never wear handcuffs. Yes maybe they are VIPs. But this kind of shows that Assange is treated as an anti-VIP.

If they’re already in custody?

Will not argue that some celebrities / politicians do and should not get special treatment (lead out the back door, not through the media circus), absolutely.

But if you’re already in custody, you’re getting cuffed. Not least for safety/security/risk to yourself/other prisoners.

In all honesty, just because it's common or routine, it can still be torture.

I mean they needed to wait for something big enough to bury it (Corona). Now's the perfect chance :kappa:

In all honesty though, there is a bunch of evidence in his US court case that basically frees him of all accusations in his british court case, but the judge refuses to accept it. Although the case is about delivering him to the US. So she denies the rightfulnes of the US court system, but wants to deliver a person to this very system???

And then there is a treaty of denying political extradictions. But then the judge said that she does not care for the treaty and only honors the UK Extraction Act, which does not mention any of it.