WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he doesn’t want to be extradited to the US

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, appearing before a British court Thursday, said he would not surrender to a U.S. extradition request as he defended his efforts to steal classified American government records as journalism.

"Not for doing journalism that's won many, many awards and affected many people," the Australian, 47, said by video link from Belmarsh Prison, a high-security jail in south-east London. Assange looked relaxed, dressed in jeans, a white T-shirt and a dark blazer as he addressed Judge Michael Snow at Westminster Magistrates court.

Assange was not handcuffed during his brief appearance.

Assange made international headlines in early 2010 when WikiLeaks published a classified U.S. 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. To others, he is a dangerous rebel who has undermined U.S. security.

U.S. authorities are seeking Assange's extradition because the Department of Justice has charged him with conspiring to break into a Pentagon computer system to reveal a large cache of top-secret files on everything from the war in Afghanistan to diplomatic letters between State Department officials and U.S. ambassadors.

The court on Thursday scheduled a further procedural hearing date for May 30. Snow said the first substantive action related to the case would likely commence June 12.

About three dozen activists gathered outside the court to protest Assange's potential extradition. They waved banners and help up photos of Assange with his mouth covered with the American flag. "Civilized people do not extradite publishers of war crimes to war criminal regimes, do they?" one such sign read.

"Free Assange" and "No extradition" read others.

The hearing comes two days after Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail after fleeing to Ecuador’s Embassy in London, where he remained for seven years until police dragged him out last month.