Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in British jail for skipping bail

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Julian Assange sentenced to 50 weeks in British jail for skipping bail

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in jail by a London court on Wednesday for skipping bail to enter the Ecuadorean embassy where he was holed up for almost seven years until police dragged him out last month.

 

Judge Deborah Taylor read out the sentence as Assange, in a black jacket and grey sweatshirt, looked on. Taylor said Assange had exploited his privileged position to flout the law and express his disdain for British justice.

 

He was convicted last month of skipping bail in June 2012 after an extradition order to Sweden over an allegation of rape. The maximum sentence was a year in jail.

 

"You remained there for nearly seven years, exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country," Judge Taylor said at Southwark Crown Court.

 

She said that it had cost taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21 million) to ensure that Assange was arrested when he left the embassy.

Assange supporters chanted "shame on you" as the judge read out the verdict.

 

Assange was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010. Assange, who denied the allegations, fought through the courts to get an extradition order and the preliminary investigation dropped.

 

Just hours after Assange was removed from the Ecuadorean embassy in London on April 11, U.S. prosecutors said they had charged Assange with conspiracy in trying to access a classified U.S. government computer.

 

"TERRIFYING CIRCUMSTANCES"

 

At the hearing in London, Assange apologised for any disrespect he may have shown.

 

"I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange said in a letter read out by his lawyer, Mark Summers.

 

"I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best," Assange said.

 

Summers told the court that Assange had "strongly held fears" in 2012 that he would be sent from Sweden to the United States and ultimately to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.

 

Summers cited the arrest and treatment of Chelsea Manning, a U.S. Army soldier who served seven years in military prison for leaking classified data while she was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.

 

Assange's lawyer said Manning, who is transgender, had been subjected to sleep deprivation and forced to parade naked in front of military personnel.

 

WikiLeaks angered Washington by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. diplomatic cables that laid bare often highly critical U.S. appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.

 

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.

 

To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech. But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security.

 

($1 = 0.7653 pounds)

 

(Reporting by Michael Holden; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Alison Williams)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-05-01

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[daboyz1]

Too bad it's not 50 years.

[colinneil]

I wonder if they will allow him to have his cat inside with him.

[OneMoreFarang]

Will they let him out on bail?

[tifino]

16 Million Pounds bribe!

 

 

anyways, with being less than 12 Months conviction, he can still be able to enter Politics!

[Justgrazing]

22 minutes ago, Jonathan Fairfield said:

I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange said in a letter read out by his lawyer, Mark Summers.

 

"I found myself struggling with terrifying circumstances for which neither I nor those from whom I sought advice could work out any remedy. I did what I thought at the time was the best," Assange said.

All about him isn't it .. " I did this " " I sought that " .. publish nicked classified information that he had no right to endangering peoples lives then he deserve's everything that is coming to him .. Can't do the time ? Don't do the crime Assange ..  

[RotBenz8888]

24 minutes ago, colinneil said:

I wonder if they will allow him to have his cat inside with him.

And have access to prison WiFi?

[malagateddy]

Hope he was steam cleaned..a stray dog would not go near him the way he looked as ge taken from that embassy.
The cop's face in the photo was worth 1000 words.

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[tifino]

10 minutes ago, Justgrazing said:

All about him isn't it .. " I did this " " I sought that " .. publish nicked classified information that he had no right to endangering peoples lives then he deserve's everything that is coming to him .. Can't do the time ? Don't do the crime Assange ..  

well; his Statement was made on behalf of Me/Myself and I, for he was not speaking on anyone else's... 

His only crime was evading that concealed mantrap agreement between the US&UK, on trumped up rape charges

 

NoOne here will know any facts, until these next 50 weeks expire... to see if his premonition is real or paranoia!

[OneEyedPie]

37 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Will they let him out on bail?

Unlike many countries, once sentenced in the UK then there's no prospect of bail unless he appeals.  Even then, little chance.

[faraday]

19 minutes ago, RotBenz8888 said:

And have access to prison WiFi?

Well they have bloody PlayStation's, so why not?

 

[BritManToo]

He didn't do anything in the UK, he's done nothing proven anywhere else, they should let him go.

Spending 16 million pounds on watching/catching him was nonsense.

A pedo who killed 100s of children wouldn't have had that amount spent trying to catch him.

 

Edited May 1, 2019 by BritManToo

[Lacessit]

Strange. Assange exposes the dark underbelly of government operations, and he's a criminal. Zuckerberg harvests the personal data of millions of Facebook followers, sells it to the highest bidder. Also sells Facebook blogs of political parties trying to get re-elected, and he's the darling of capitalists everywhere.

[Phuketshrew]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

I wonder if they will allow him to have his cat inside with him.

No pussy allowed inside UK prisons.

[bluesofa]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

I wonder if they will allow him to have his cat inside with him.

Only if it's in a burger.

[Chomper Higgot]

48 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

Strange. Assange exposes the dark underbelly of government operations, and he's a criminal. Zuckerberg harvests the personal data of millions of Facebook followers, sells it to the highest bidder. Also sells Facebook blogs of political parties trying to get re-elected, and he's the darling of capitalists everywhere.

Of course it’s strange.

 

Torturous whataboutary is always strange.

[madmen]

1 hour ago, colinneil said:

I wonder if they will allow him to have his cat inside with him.

dont laugh I just watched a prison doco in the US that allowed cats to well behaved life sentence prisoners. You should have seen these killers crying when talking about the love for their cats

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

He didn't do anything in the UK, he's done nothing proven anywhere else, they should let him go.

Spending 16 million pounds on watching/catching him was nonsense.

A pedo who killed 100s of children wouldn't have had that amount spent trying to catch him.

It must be that so called special relationship ...

[mauGR1]

Another nail in the coffin of investigative journalism.

[Basil B]

1 hour ago, tifino said:

16 Million Pounds bribe!

 

 

anyways, with being less than 12 Months conviction, he can still be able to enter Politics!

If you mean in the UK, I doubt he qualifies under the residency requirements. 

[metisdead]

An off topic trolling post has been removed. 

[Basil B]

2 hours ago, colinneil said:

I wonder if they will allow him to have his cat inside with him.

No corporal punishment ended 1962, so unfortunately no cat o'nine tails for him.  

[stevenl]

21 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

It must be that so called special relationship ...

Or maybe just committing a crime in the UK.

[Basil B]

26 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Another nail in the coffin of investigative journalism.

You are insulting real journalists...

[mauGR1]

2 minutes ago, Basil B said:

You are insulting real journalists...

No, i don't think so.

[SweetStickyRice]

I find some of the above comments as herd mentality. Judge Deborah Taylor should be ashamed of herself. The UK and Sweden are the USA's lapdogs. Freedom of speech is slowly being taken away from us. 

[Jack Mountain]

Shame!

[simple1]

1 hour ago, SweetStickyRice said:

I find some of the above comments as herd mentality. Judge Deborah Taylor should be ashamed of herself. The UK and Sweden are the USA's lapdogs. Freedom of speech is slowly being taken away from us. 

What are you on about? Assange broke British law, cost UK tax payers millions of pounds, yet still didn't get the maximum jail time penalty. It's a shame Assange isn't being sued to repay HMG costs. 

[faraday]

Will he go into general population at the prison?

 

 

[simple1]

27 minutes ago, faraday said:

Will he go into general population at the prison?

 

 

Considering he was held at a high security prison, likely serve time in a protection unit.