Karen Kwiatowski is making that case at Off-Guardian, May 9.

I find that I just need to get this out of my head and leave it here. You may find that I’m a truly paranoid nutbar, but as the old saw goes: just cuz you're paranoid it don't mean that they really ain’t out to get ya! Nor does Kwiatowski offer ‘proof’ save from unnamed source(s): (some snippets):

“The US appears to be a nation of laws, and yet, we absolutely are not. One of many lessons and perspectives we gain from the study of Julian Assange is just that. US political influence and debt-funded largesse resulted in Assange’s ejection from the Ecuadorian Embassy into the UK prison for terrorists in Belmarsh. US domestic corruption and misreading of the Constitution produced his indictment.

Furthermore, US government employees, from the DoD, FBI and the CIA have been interviewing Assange in Belmarsh Prison, prior to any extradition decision.
Interviewing is the wrong word. I’d like to say doctoring him, because it would be more accurate, except that word implies some care for a positive outcome. Chemical Gina has her hands in this one, and we are being told that Assange is being “treated” with 3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, known as BZ. What BZ does, from the New Yorker:

“Exposed soldiers exhibited bizarre symptoms: rapid mumbling, or picking obsessively at bedclothes and other objects, real or imaginary. “…The drug’s effect lasted for days. At its peak, volunteers were totally cut off in their own minds, jolting from one fragmented existence to the next. They saw visions: Lilliputian baseball players competing on a tabletop diamond; animals or people or objects that materialized and vanished. ….

Soldiers on BZ could remember only fragments of the experience afterward. As the drug wore off, and the subjects had trouble discerning what was real, many experienced anxiety, aggression, even terror. Ketchum [Dr. James Ketchum, DoD Edgewood Arsenal, MD] built padded cells to prevent injuries, but at times the subjects couldn’t be contained. One escaped, running from imagined murderers. Another, on a drug similar to BZ, saw “bugs, worms, one snake, a monkey and numerous rats,” and thought his skin was covered in blood. “Subject broke a wooden chair and smashed a hole in the wall after tearing down a 4-by-7-ft panel of padding,” his chart noted. Ketchum and three assistants piled on top of the soldier to subdue him. “He was clearly terrified and convinced we were intending to kill him,” his chart said.

[the lengthy New Yorker link]

“It is difficult to know if the state is more sociopathic or more psychopathic. What US government employees and/or contractors are currently doing to Julian Assange, and those who may have used Wikileaks as a journalistic avenue, may indicate it is the latter. Torture, isolation, brutality, and the use of psychotropic drugs during interrogations and hiding this from the defendant’s own lawyers by denying them access — this is Lubyanka in the 1950s, not London and DC in 2019.

Allow me to get to the point. The latest word I have received from England is as follows:
“[Julian Assange] is presently under close observation in prison hospital because he has suffered ‘severe transient psychotic episodes.’ My source(s) indicate these episodes occurred after two sessions of coercive interrogation at the hands of UK and US officials. The source(s) stated the HUMINT interrogators used psychotropic drugs in the course of the sessions.”

There are no words. Nothing can be said. 2 plus 2 does equal 5. The FBI is our own special Cheka. The CIA Director’s hands are wet and her organization does not serve American values. Rather than choosing to stay secretive for national security, the modern CIA must stay secretive in order to survive, because it has become functionally illegal. Our president, who puts America first, is putting American values last, even as he tweets his concern for freedom of speech.
The agenda is to destroy Assange as a human being, and they may well succeed. In doing this evil deed, in all of our names, America herself – whether we put her first, last, or somewhere in the middle – will have dug her own grave.”

Now my initial quest to discover whether Julian were being tortured began on ‘VIPS: Extradition of Julian Assange Threatens Us All’, April 30, 2019, consortiumnews.com:

“Reportedly, British and U.S. intelligence are interrogating Assange, possibly employing torture tactics, without access to legal counsel at a prison reserved for terrorists. U.S. officials apparently charged Assange as “a terrorist” in order to dodge the problem of the statute of limitations for conspiracy or computer intrusion by extending (via the Patriot Act and/or other terrorism laws) the normal statute of limitations from 5 to 8 years.”

Karen Kwiatowski is one of the VIPS. I’d hunted and hunted, and was glad to learn that Pam Anderson and Kristinn Hfransson were going to be allowed to enter Belmarsh UK Gitmo to see Assange on May 7, and when they came out they were interviewed while still in shock, of course:
[video:https://vimeo.com/334640055]

Last night I’d clicked into WikiLeaks on Twitter May 9 and had found this brief statement from the UN Special Rapporteur on torture and inhumane treatment, indicating that doctors would be examining Julian for to more hours in the afternoon. There’s no update today.

The UN Special Rapporteur on torture and inhumane treatment talks after meeting Julian Assange at HM Prison Belmarsh. pic.twitter.com/JXrD9dEOL3

— RT UK (@RTUKnews) May 9, 2019

Now in the comments under Kwiatowski’s piece is this:

Comment: Update from Pepe Escobar: IMPORTANT UPDATE ON POSSIBLE TORTURE OF JULIAN ASSANGE: This adds up to my previous post on Assange possibly being tortured in jail – according to retired USAF Lt. Col. Karin Kwiatkowski.

My great friend Joe Lauria at Consortium News tell me, “Karin is backing away from her statements and has removed her tweet. She says she was just ‘speculating about this when asked a question a couple of weeks ago. Some people think she may have been set up by a source to have her report this and thereby discredit VIPS, of which she is a member.

The attempt to discredit VIPS – who are EXTREMELY professional and in fact unimpeachable – makes total sense. They have been relentless debunking the WHOLE Russiagate narrative. I found it strange that Pamela Anderson and Kristinn Hrafnsson from WikiLeaks visited Julian on Tuesday and did not say anything about his condition being like this.

Besides, the UN rapporteur on torture saw Julian yesterday. Joe tells me “he had a doctor with him who examined Julian, and he said nothing when he met with the press afterward.”
Anyway, here are the facts. But I STILL don’t put beyond Chemical Gina and his goons to “interfere” with Julian in jail. “

[Escobar on May 9 Facebook]

I did check, but her Tweet’s still up:

https://t.co/cehq8ZFwOk

— Karen Kwiatkowski (@karen4the6th) May 7, 2019

...and knowing that Anderson and Hrafnsson were coming, they may not have ‘interrogated’ him that day...and we don’t know what the Special Rapporteur might have learned from the afternoon examinations. But in any even, his visit was permitted announced beforehand, as well. I’d even tried to track down a few of the subtweeters calling ‘rubbish, lies’, but hadn’t found what had been implied, including the one on Stefania Maurizi’s account.

I'm fairly certain that it was BZ toxin that Sergei Lavrov had believed had incapacitated the disappeared Skripals, fwiw.

My plan was to wait until this morning to go onto last night's 29th vigil for assange and ask Joe Lauria about it. As it turns out, there are zero comments under it, and as comments often take a coon's age to get approved, it hardly seemed worth wait to ask, be answered if at all, and tra la la.

well, anyway...I'm sure you'll let me know...whether I'm crazy or not...(at least on this issue, not in general, if you don't mind.) ; )
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ct8IizwCFNA]