Julian Assange to fight extradition to US

Julian Assange is due to begin his fight against extradition to the US over allegations he conspired to break into a classified Pentagon computer.

Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange leaves Southwark Crown Court in a security van after being sentenced on May 1. Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images

The WikiLeaks founder will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court today (Thursday) for his first extradition hearing since being hauled out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he hid for nearly seven years.

The case comes a day after the 47-year-old was sentenced to 50 weeks’ imprisonment for breaching bail when he failed to surrender to police in 2012.

Shortly after Assange was removed from the Embassy on April 11 this year, US prosecutors announced that he had been charged with conspiring alongside intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate a Pentagon computer.

They said the charge carries a maximum of five years’ imprisonment and relates to Assange’s “alleged role in one of the largest compromises of classified information” in US history.

Prosecutors claim he assisted Manning in cracking a password to help her leak classified records to the whistleblowing website.

Assange was convicted of breaching his bail conditions after entering the Ecuadorian embassy while wanted over allegations of sexual offences in Sweden, which he denies.

After Assange was jailed, lawyer Jennifer Robinson vowed that the “focus of our energies will now be on fighting” the US extradition request.

The Australian is not expected to be in court in person, and will instead appear via a videolink from prison.

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