Julian Assange is slurring his speech and worried about dying in prison, according to a new report from British journalist and former Army officer Vaughan Smith. The journalist spoke with Russian state TV network RT on Tuesday and revealed that Assange called him over the phone from Britain’s Belmarsh prison on Christmas Eve. Mr Smith told RT that the WikiLeaks founder is being kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and is often tranquillised. He added that Mr Assange – usually very articulated – struggled to speak over the phone. Mr Smith said: “Julian rang me because he spent Christmas with me and my family in 2010 while on bail all that time ago. I think he simply wanted a few minutes of escape and to talk to us because of the memory he had of that. “His speech was slurred, he was speaking slowly. Julian is a highly articulate and very clever person when he speaks and he sounded awful. “And it was very upsetting to hear him. “The idea of him being sedated has come from several people who have been visiting him and have clearly being told, and the British Government are being asked about it and they refuse to address that matter. “What they say is they’re not mistreating him, but clearly he’s being kept in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. “He sounded awful and he said to me: ‘I’m slowly dying here’. He said that also to my wife.” Assange, 48, stayed with the free speech supporter, 56, at Ellingham Hall, Norfolk between 2010 and 2011 after he was released on conditional bail on allegations of rape in Stockholm and the two have remained in touch. Assange later sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London but was jailed for 50 weeks in May for breaching his bail conditions after going into hiding to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex offence allegations, which he has always denied. Since being locked up concern has been raised over his health, with Smith now claiming Assange had trouble speaking and appeared to be drugged in his one permitted phone call over the Christmas period. The doctors are calling for Assange to be transferred to a university teaching hospital, where he can be assessed and treated by an expert medical team. The letter, which has also been copied to shadow home secretary Diane Abbott, says: ‘From a medical point of view, on the evidence currently available, we have serious concerns about Mr Assange’s fitness to stand trial in February 2020. ‘Most importantly, it is our opinion that Mr Assange requires urgent expert medical assessment of both his physical and psychological state of health. ‘Any medical treatment indicated should be administered in a properly equipped and expertly staffed university teaching hospital (tertiary care). ‘Were such urgent assessment and treatment not to take place, we have real concerns, on the evidence currently available, that Mr Assange could die in prison. ‘The medical situation is thereby urgent. There is no time to lose.’ Dr Lissa Johnson, a clinical psychologist in Australia and one of the letter’s signatories, said: ‘Given the rapid decline of his health in Belmarsh prison, Julian Assange must immediately be transferred to a university teaching hospital for appropriate and specialised medical care. ‘If the UK Government fails to heed doctors’ advice by urgently arranging such a transfer on medical grounds, there is a very real possibility that Mr Assange may die. ‘As it stands, serious questions surround not only the health impacts of Mr Assange’s detention conditions, but his medical fitness to stand trial and prepare his defence. ‘Independent specialist medical assessment is therefore needed to determine whether Julian Assange is medically fit for any of his pending legal proceedings. ‘Consistent with its commitment to human rights and rule of law, the UK Government must heed the urgent warning of medical professionals from around the world, and transfer Julian Assange to an appropriately specialised and expert hospital setting, before it’s too late.’ More than 100 doctors have called for Assange to be released from prison, though it’s unlikely that he’ll be let out anytime soon.