- Julian Assange faces accusations of leaking United States’ military material
- The 48-year-old appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court over video-link
- Currently being held at HMP Belmarsh, one of the UK’s most notorious prisonsÂ
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is yet to be shown key evidence in the case brought against him by the American authorities, his extradition hearing was told today.
The 48-year-old, faces accusations of leaking sensitive United States’ military material between January and May 2010.
The Australian national appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court over video-link from HMP Belmarsh white haired and clean shaven with a grey jumper and spoke to confirm his identity.
The Americans want to extradite him to US soil so he can be prosecuted for conspiring with army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning for leaking classified documents.
He is being held in the high-security jail ahead of a full hearing in February when he will fight extradition to the US, where he faces 18 charges, including conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer.
Gareth Peirce, representing Assange, said: ‘The summary case which we have prepared is a dense document.
‘Mr Assange has not been given what he must be given, and we are keen to go through this to the best of our abilities to keep with the requests of the court.
‘It is predicated on the underlying evidence that Mr Assange has not reviewed.’
Last month Swedish authorities dropped rape allegations made in 2010 against the editor.