Julian Assange states no to United States extradition demand at London hearing

WikiLeaks creator Julian Assange declined to give up to a US extradition demand throughout a hearing in London on Thursday.

Assange appeared by video link at Westminster Magistrates Court in the very first of numerous hearings throughout which he will battle extradition to the United States over his supposed function in what the United States Justice Department calls “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States.” 

“I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people,” Assange informed the judge. The court has actually now adjourned till May 30, when a procedural hearing will happen, with a more substantive hearing set up for June 12.

The extradition hearing happened simply one day after Assange was sentenced in Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks in jail for avoiding bail in 2012. For practically 7 years, 47-year-old Assange resided in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London out of worry he would be extradited initially to Sweden on rape charges, and later on to the United States. London’s Metropolitan Police apprehended Assange at the embassy last month when Ecuador withdrew Assange’s asylum.

Supporters of Assange objected outside the court with banners, while others tried to enter into the courtroom to support the WikiLeaks creator. Seating in the court was ticketed, however tickets were just assigned to a handful of members of journalism. Outside the courtroom, members of the general public yelled “shame,” along with “this is a disgrace,” and “this is illegal.”

Representatives from WikiLeaks and fans had actually hired advance to examine whether they would be allowed, however after going through court security, they discovered the little courtroom selected for the hearing didn’t have the capability to accommodate them.

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“They intentionally chose a small room to create this problem,” one supporter, Polona Florijancic, told CNET. “There are bigger rooms but they intentionally assigned it to this one.”

“This is a British court that has lied to the public and has denied them access to a case which is highly controversial, they knew was going to have a lot of public support and what’s more there’s no one supporting the actual defendant,” added supporter Karen Meidl. “We were told by the guards at the door that this order not to let anyone in other than the press came from the Ministry of Justice.”

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice declined to comment on the accusation, but reiterated that the hearing had allocated seating.