Home NEWS WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears in London court over U.S. extradition case | CBC News

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears in London court over U.S. extradition case | CBC News

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appears in London court over U.S. extradition case | - News

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in a London court on Monday for a hearing on whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges.WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, shown in May 1, puts his fist up as he is taken from court in London. He’s back in court on Monday for a hearing on whether he should be extradited to the U.S. to face spying charges. (Matt Dunham/AP)WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared in a London court on Monday for a hearing on whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. Assange, dressed in a navy suit and light blue sweater, raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery. He was cleanly shaven in contrast to the long beard he had grown while holed up in Ecuador’s embassy.Assange, 48, faces 18 counts in the U.S. including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted. Assange’s legal team is seeking to delay his full extradition hearing which is now set for five days in February 2020. Lawyer Mark Summers, representing Assange, says more time is needed to prepare Assange’s defence against “unprecedented” use of espionage charges against a journalist. Summers said the case has many facets and will require a “mammoth” amount of planning and preparation. Representing the U.S., lawyer James Lewis said the U.S. would oppose any delay to the proceeding. Australian-born Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff. Admirers, have hailed Assange as a hero for exposing what they describe as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. The court’s public gallery was jammed with these supporters on Monday, including former London Mayor Ken Livingstone, and outside the courthouse others carried placards calling for Assange to be released. Demonstrators hold banners during a protest outside the Westminster Magistrates’ Court, where a hearing in Assange’s extradition case is being held. (Hannah McKay/Reuters) But his detractors have painted him as a dangerous figure complicit in Russian efforts to undermine the West and U.S. security, and dispute that he is a journalist. WikiLeaks angered Washington by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that laid bare critical U.S. appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family. In 2012, he took refuge in Ecuador’s London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden where he was accused of sex crimes which he denied, saying he believed he would ultimately be sent on to the United Sates. He was dragged from the embassy in April after seven years and given a 50-week jail term for skipping bail. That sentence was completed but he remains in prison while his extradition case continues.  Assange claims he is a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection.

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