WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is due to face a British court for the second time in two days, this time on the one thing he has always feared: an extradition order from the US.
On Wednesday, he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail in Britain seven years ago and holing up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Judge Deborah Taylor appeared unimpressed by Assange's written apology and his lawyer's argument that he sought refuge in the embassy because of an overwhelming fear of being taken from Sweden, where he faced sexual misconduct allegations, to the US to face separate charges related to his WikiLeaks activity.
The judge on Wednesday said it was hard to imagine a more serious version of the offence as she gave the 47-year-old a sentence close to the maximum of a year in custody.
She pointed out he had not surrendered "willingly" and was only facing the court because the government of Ecuador withdrew its protection last month.
"You remained there for nearly seven years, exploiting your privileged position to flout the law and advertise internationally your disdain for the law of this country," Judge Taylor said at Southwark Crown Court.
She said that it had cost taxpayers STG16 million ($A29.5 million) to ensure that Assange was arrested when he left the embassy.
Protesters on Wednesday. Source: AAP
WikiLeaks tweeted the sentence was "as shocking as it is vindictive".
"We have grave concerns as to whether he will receive a fair extradition hearing in the UK," it said.
Assange supporters chanted "shame on you" as the judge read out the verdict.
Assange was accused by two Swedish women of sexual assault and rape in 2010. Assange, who denied the allegations, fought through the courts to get an extradition order and the preliminary investigation dropped.
Just hours after Assange was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London on April 11, US prosecutors said they had charged him with conspiracy in trying to access a classified US government computer.
At the hearing in London, Assange apologised for any disrespect he may have shown.
"I apologise unreservedly to those who consider that I have disrespected them by the way I have pursued my case. This is not what I wanted or intended," Assange said in a letter read out by his lawyer, Mark Summers.
"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 said.
Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange arrives at Southwark Crown Court in London. He was sentenced to 50 weeks behind bars. Source: AP
Summers told the court that Assange had "strongly held fears" in 2012 that he would be sent from Sweden to the United States and ultimately to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.
Summers cited the arrest and treatment of Chelsea Manning, a US Army soldier who served seven years in military prison for leaking classified data while she was working as an intelligence analyst in Iraq.
Assange's lawyer said Manning, who is transgender, had been subjected to sleep deprivation and forced to parade naked in front of military personnel.
WikiLeaks angered Washington by publishing hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables that laid bare often highly critical US appraisals of world leaders, from Russian President Vladimir Putin to members of the Saudi royal family.
Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified US military video showing a 2007 attack by Apache helicopters in Baghdad that killed a dozen people, including two Reuters news staff.
To some, Assange is a hero for exposing what supporters cast as abuse of power by modern states and for championing free speech.
But to others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined US security.
