Julian Assange has refused to surrender to a US extradition request for what he says is “doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people”.
Wearing jeans, a dark jacket and light coloured top, the WikiLeaks co-founder appeared by video link at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Thursday morning as a small group of supporters gathered outside.
The 47-year-old is wanted by the US to answer allegations he conspired to break into a classified Pentagon computer.
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.
Assange told the court his work has “protected many people”.
District Judge Michael Snow remanded Assange into custody to appear via video link again at the same court on May 30 for a further case management hearing.
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, the Press Association reports.
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.