A British judge today (May 1, 2019) sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Judge Deborah Taylor while passing a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody, said that it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offence. She said that Assange's seven years in the embassy had cost British taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million), and said he sought asylum as a "deliberate attempt to delay justice."
Assange, 47, broke his bail conditions in 2012 when he fled to the Ecuadoran Embassy in London after Sweden requested his extradition in a case involving sexual assault allegations. His lawyer, Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the U.S." He said Assange had a "well-founded" fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the U.S. detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay. Summers read a letter from Assange apologizing for his behavior in 2012 and saying "I did what I thought was best." "I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances," the letter said. Assange was arrested on
April 11, 2019, after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation's foreign affairs to poor hygiene. The sentencing comes a day before an extradition hearing in London related to separate charges in the United States of conspiring to hack a government password.
Decades of Imprisonment for WikiLeaks founder – Julian Assange, if convicted for spying charge
International
Sep 17, 2020
Upendra Malaviya
(
Editor: Ekta Joshi
)
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On Monday (September 14, 2020),an American lawyer stated that WikiLeaks Founder, Julian Assange will face decades of imprisonment if found convicted on spying charges in an extradition hearing in Britain. It was made clear by U.S. Persecutors that the 49-year-old Australian is to face 17 espionage Charges and one of computer misuse, over WikiLeaks publication of secret data of U.S. military decades ago. They also mentioned that a maximum of 175 years of imprisonment is awarded for the...
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Indicted in the U.S. for Hiring Hackers
International
Jun 29, 2020
Harshil Jain
(
Editor: Ekta Joshi
)
4 Shares
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing a new indictment in the United States for hiring hackers at conferences held in the Netherlands and Malaysia in 2009. They were hired to obtain classified information for publication based on a list posted on his anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks titled ‘Most Wanted Leaks’. The indictment was returned on Wednesday by a federal grand jury against Assange that accused him of working with hacking groups to target and publish sensitive information.The...
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