UK court sentences Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail

A UK judge has sentenced WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Judge Deborah Taylor said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offence as she gave the 47-year-old hacker a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody.

 She said Assange's seven years in the embassy had cost UK taxpayers 16 million pounds ($21m) and said he sought asylum as a "deliberate attempt to delay justice".

Assange now faces a separate hearing on Thursday to decide if he can be extradited to the US where he is accused of orchestrating one of the largest ever leaks of government secrets.

 The sentencing hearing on Wednesday heard how the 47-year-old Australian had remained living in Ecuador’s embassy – out of reach of British police – until his asylum was withdrawn last month and officers were invited in to arrest him.

In a letter read out in court, Assange apologised to “those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way that I have pursued my case”.

 He added: “This is not what I wanted or intended. 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's lawyer Mark Summers told a courtroom packed with journalists and WikiLeaks supporters that his client sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy because "he was living with overwhelming fear of being rendered to the US".

He said Assange had a "well-founded" fear that he would be mistreated and possibly sent to the US detention camp for terrorism suspects at Guantanamo Bay.

Assange was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador revoked his political asylum, accusing him of everything from meddling in the nation's foreign affairs to poor hygiene.

 He faces a separate court hearing on Thursday on a US extradition request. US authorities have charged Assange with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system.