Julian Assange jailed to 50 weeks

16:10, 01.05.2019

Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions.

The 47-year-old was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act last month after his arrest at the Ecuadorian Embassy.

He took refuge in the London embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which he has denied.

In a letter read to the court, Assange said he had found himself “struggling with difficult circumstances”. He apologized to those who “consider I’ve disrespected them”, a packed Southwark Crown Court heard, as reported by BBC.

Assange now faces US federal conspiracy charges related to one of the largest leaks of government secrets. The UK will decide whether to extradite Assange to the US in response to allegations that he conspired with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to download classified databases.

He faces up to five years in a US prison if convicted. Wikileaks has published thousands of classified documents covering everything from the film industry to national security and war.

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