Loading Both MPs said they had no cause to disagree with an assessment by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, that Assange had been the victim of psychological torture. The UK has defended its handling of the case and the conditions of his imprisonment. The WikiLeaks founder has been in Belmarsh Prison since April 2019 trying to avoid extradition to the US to face 17 espionage charges and one computer hacking charge. The first stage of the extradition hearing begins on Monday. Wilkie and Christensen agreed public opinion of Assange was mixed but stressed there was a fundamental problem with a British court being allowed to determine whether an Australian citizen should be extradited to America. "I walk out of Belmarsh in absolutely no doubt that he has become a political prisoner in this country and that the US is determined to extradite him to get even," Wilkie said.

"There was no espionage. There was no hacking. It was just a person doing the right thing and publishing important information in the public interest and frankly it is an international scandal that he is locked up in there in those conditions as a political prisoner." Assange is no longer subject to strict solitary detention but told the Australian MPs he was still confined to his cell for 20 hours a day. Liberal National Party MP George Christensen and independent MP Andrew Wilkie speak outside Belmarsh Prison after visiting Julian Assange. Credit:Getty Wikileaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said inmates had petitioned the prison governor to release Assange from isolation. "There is more humanity, actually, among hardened criminals in Belmarsh Prison than you will find outside," Hrafnsson said.

Loading In a new development, Christensen told reporters following the prison visit and an earlier briefing with Assange's legal team that new evidence to support the case for Assange would be revealed in court and could force Australia to get more involved. "I think there is more the Australian government can do, and I think when we hear some of the stuff that's going to come to light next week, there's more that will be done," the Queensland-based Liberal National Party MP said. "There's information that I now know, that will be known next week, that will probably make people sit up straight and worry about this a hell of a lot. "I think that now is a time that the government that I'm part of needs to be standing up and saying to both the UK and the US: 'enough is enough, leave our bloke alone and let him come home'."

Lawyers for Assange fear the Morrison government will hand the Wikileaks founder over to the United States should he win the extradition battle in Britain and then be deported to Australia. Julian Assange will appear in court for the extradition hearing. Credit:PA Barrister Jennifer Robinson said multiple scenarios could unfold following next week's crunch extradition hearing at a courthouse near the prison. These include Assange being extradited to the US and facing trial, Assange winning his case but being forced to stay in London during an appeal, and Assange winning his case and being deported to Australia only to then be extradited to the US. Each option could extend the legal tussle over his future by many years, she warned. Loading

"He is at risk if he travels and is at risk even if he returns home to Australia, which underlines the importance of the United States withdrawing this request," she said. "Stopping this in its tracks in the United States is the best possible option." Christensen said he would lobby the government to change its extradition laws with the US in a way that would raise the bar for Assange's possible extradition. "I'm a big fan of the Trump administration, a big fan of Donald Trump, a big fan of BoJo [Boris Johnson," Christensen said. Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen surrounded by international media outside the prison. Credit:Getty "But I will tell you what I'm a bigger fan of: free speech and a free press. These are the fundamentals of a democracy and they are values that, as a conservative, I want to uphold and they are clearly under attack when it comes to the Julian Assange case.