WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been jailed for 50 weeks for breaching his bail conditions.
The Australian 47-year-old appeared for sentencing at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday morning and was pictured holding up a fist seemingly to signify his defiance.
His defence team argued that he had “suffered enough”, comparing his living conditions inside the Ecuadorian Embassy to being “akin to prison”.
But Judge Deborah Taylor disagreed, saying it was hard to think of a more severe example of this type of offence and handed down the jail sentence.
Assange raised his fist as he was led from the dock, a gesture matched by around a dozen supporters who launched into a chant of “shame on you” at the judge.
Earlier, he had entered the dock wearing a dark jacket, light grey jumper and with a trimmed beard. Some supporters stood as he came into courtroom one.
Asked if he understood that he had been committed for sentencing, he said: “I understand I have been committed. I don’t know details.”
It was expected he could face up to a year in jail, and the judge sentenced him to 50 weeks.
In mitigation for Assange Mark Summers QC, told the court his client had been “gripped” by fears of rendition to the US over the years because of his work with WikiLeaks.
He said: “As threats rained down on him from America, they overshadowed everything as far as he was concerned.
“They dominated his thoughts. They were not invented by him, they were gripping him throughout.”
In a letter read to court, Assange said: “I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I pursued my case.
“I found myself struggling with difficult circumstances.
“I did what I thought at the time was the best or perhaps the only thing that I could have done. I regret the course that that has taken.”
Those difficulties, the letter continued, were “compounded” and also “impacted upon very many others”.
Assange was found guilty of breaching the Bail Act at a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court earlier this month after being arrested at the Ecuadorian Embassy.
Assange was accused of sexual offences in Sweden in 2010, and after exhausting his legal options against an extradition order, went to the Ecuadorian Embassy on June 19 2012.
A warrant for his arrest was issued 10 days later.
At the hearing on April 11 District Judge Michael Snow remanded Assange in custody and branded him a “narcissist who cannot get beyond his own selfish interests”.
The judge said: “This is a case which merits the maximum sentence, which is 12 months in the Crown Court.”
