Assange is also facing a US extradition request
Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protest outside court in London on May 1, 2019 where Assange was sentenced for bail violation.Picture: Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS / AFPWikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.
He claimed the allegations were a pretext to transfer him to the United States, where he feared prosecution over the release by WikiLeaks of millions of classified documents. In a letter read out on his behalf, Assange expressed regret, saying:"I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done."However, Assange is facing a US extradition request, which was only revealed following his dramatic arrest, when he was dragged shouting from the embassy by police.Assange appeared in court within hours of his arrest, and a judge found him guilty of breaching his bail conditions.
Manning passed hundreds of thousands of classified documents to WikiLeaks, exposing US military wrongdoing in the Iraq war and diplomatic secrets about scores of countries around the world. WikiLeaks is also back in the news in the United States, over its alleged role in the leak of Hillary Clinton's emails in 2016 US presidential election.
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