WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in jail for breaching a British court order seven years ago, when he took refuge in Ecuador's London embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden. The Australian whistleblower, who was arrested on April 11 after Ecuador gave him up, will serve the nearly one-year sentence while fighting a separate attempt to transfer him to the United States.
The 47-year-old, his shaggy beard neatly trimmed, raised his fist to supporters in the public gallery at London's Southwark Crown Court as he was taken down to the cells. They shouted "Shame on you!" towards the court.
WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson called the sentence an "outrage" at a press conference outside and said that focus would now shift to preventing Assange's extradition to the US.
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