WIKILEAKS founder Julian Assange today shook his fist in defiance as he was jailed for 50 weeks for hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
The 47-year-old “apologised unreservedly” for jumping British bail seven years ago – claiming he feared he would be “kidnapped” by the US because of his works with the whistle-blower website.
But Assange was today jailed for close to the maximum one year sentence possible as the judge told him he still “had a choice” and put himself deliberately out of reach of the law.
The WikiLeaks founder this morning ditched the long beard he had sported as he was arrested last month for trimmed facial hair as he appeared at Southwark Crown Court.
Assange himself even read a grovelling letter, with his lawyers claiming he had been dominated by fears he would be kidnapped and “forcibly taken” to the US.
In mitigation for Assange Mark Summers QC, said: “As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned.
“They dominated his thoughts. They were not invented by him, they were gripping him throughout.”
Mr Summers said Assange’s fears that he could face rendition from Sweden to the US were well founded and “not a figment of his imagination”.
Sweden at the time, he said, had a “well documented and unfortunate history” of sending “people to states where they were at significant risk of ill treatment including torture and death”.
There were reports of discussions between Sweden and the US over the matter, Mr Summers said.
“That’s not a figment of his imagination,” he added. “They were reasonable fears.”
He further claimed that Assange’s seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy had left him “sad, degraded and insecure”.
In a letter read to court, Assange said: “I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I pursued my case.
“I found myself struggling with difficult circumstances.
“I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done.
“I regret the course that that has taken.”
Those difficulties, the letter continued, were “compounded” and also “impacted upon very many others”.
But Judge Deborah Taylor told Assange he would serve 50 weeks behind bars, saying: “You have had fears but you had a choice.”
She added: “It’s difficult to envisage a more serious example of this offence.
“By hiding in the embassy you deliberately put yourself out of reach, while remaining in the UK.”
She told Assange that by doing so he had “exploited your privileged position to flout the law” – with it costing British taxpayers an estimated £16m as he sought to “delay justice”.
THE criminal case against Julian Assange in the US was revealed last month.
The WikiLeaks hacker is wanted on conspiracy charges for committing “computer intrusion”.
And he is charged with conspiring with ex-intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning — jailed for 35 years before her sentence was commuted in 2017 — to crack a Department of Defence password.
Assange faces a maximum five years if convicted.
Details of the US investigation emerged in a six-page charge sheet filed at Virginia’s Eastern District court on March 6, 2018.
US prosecutors say Assange knew Manning had already handed over four huge secret databases to WikiLeaks in 2010.
They included 90,000 Afghanistan war reports, 400,000 Iraq reports, 800 briefings on Guantanamo Bay detainees and 250,000 diplomatic cables.
Despite that, he agreed to help crack the password, telling her: “Curious eyes never run dry in my experience.” Later, he asked her for more information to help the operation, adding: “No luck so far.”
The pair used the Jabber online chat service to plot the hack and took measures to cover Manning’s tracks as it unfolded, prosecutors allege.
SWEDISH prosecutors are considering relaunching a rape investigation into Julian Assange.
Officials said the allegations made against him were due to expire under the country’s statute of limitations in August next year.
But his arrest means the investigation could be reopened after a request from an alleged victim.
Deputy chief prosecutor Eva-Marie Persson said: “We will now examine the matter to determine how we proceed. The preliminary investigation has therefore not been resumed yet and we do not know today whether it will happen. We cannot promise any timetable for when decisions will be made.”
Assange was accused of attacking a woman after they met at a WikiLeaks conference in Stockholm in 2010. She alleged that Assange had unprotected sex with her while she was asleep even though she had refused him repeatedly.
The case was dropped in May 2017 after the director of public prosecutions ruled it impossible to proceed while he was under Ecuador’s protection.
But yesterday, the woman’s lawyer Elisabeth Massi Fritz piled pressure on prosecutors, saying: “No rape victim should have to wait nine years to see justice be served.”
Supporters this morning gathered outside the court, chanting “free Julian Assange”.
Tomorrow, Assange will face a hearing about his potential extradition to the US over the allegation he conspired with intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to infiltrate Pentagon computers.
Prosecutors in Sweden are also mulling whether to reopen the sexual assault case against Assange, which was dropped in May 2017. Assange denies the allegations.
Since he was dramatically hauled from the embassy, strange stories have been emerging about his behaviour while he stayed there under asylum status.
Staff complained about him riding his skateboard on the polished floors, as well as playing football and generally being untidy.
He was also said to stage “dirty protests” in which he would stuff his underpants down the toilet and leave unwashed dishes in the kitchen.
And employees said they were annoyed by him playing loud music at night.
It was even claimed his cat was taken away from the embassy because he didn’t look after it.
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