WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced a court hearing Thursday over the U.S. request to extradite him for allegedly conspiring to hack a Pentagon computer. Assange appeared by video link from prison for the hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
According to a reporter for The Guardian newspaper who was in the courtroom, the judge asked Assange whether he would voluntarily surrender to the U.S. extradition request.
“I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many, many awards and protected many people,” Assange replied.
A few dozen supporters holding signs reading “Free Assange” and “No extradition” gathered outside the courthouse before the hearing. It’s an early stage in what is likely to be a months- or years-long extradition process.
Assange said he took to hiding in the embassy out of fear — what he called “terrifying circumstances” — of being sent to the U.S. to face charges related to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified U.S. military documents.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said Wednesday that the extradition battle was “a question of life and death” for Assange.
Assange was arrested last month after his relationship with his embassy hosts went sour and Ecuador revoked his political asylum.