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LONDON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was ordered freed on $310,000 bail by a London court Tuesday as he challenges extradition to Sweden for sexual assault. He remained jailed pending an appeal by prosecutors, CBS reported.
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An Australian newspaper reported his mother, Christine Assange, flew to London to be with him.
WikiLeaks' release of sensitive U.S. documents and the allegations of sexual assault have given Assange rock-star attention as critics vilify him and supporters call him a hero and martyr. Media crews and reporters mingled with Assange's followers at the courthouse near Parliament early Tuesday, The New York Times reported.
Assange surrendered Dec. 7 to British authorities and was jailed after a judge reviewing Sweden's extradition request determined Assange was a flight risk and denied bail.
A decision on whether to extradite Assange could be weeks away, the Times said.
Assange, 39, is challenging a Swedish prosecutor's demand that he be extradited for questioning about alleged sexual offenses. Assange called the allegations a smear campaign but Swedish prosecutors insist there is no link between their case and the release of U.S. State Department cables by Assange's whistle-blowing Web site.
WikiLeaks indicates 1,344 of 251,287 documents it acquired have been published on its Web site since it began releasing the latest batch of communiques Nov. 28, making them available to several newspapers, including the Times. Previously WikiLeaks publicized confidential material about the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
His imprisonment set up a cyberbattle between WikiLeaks supporters and Web sites that severed ties with the Web site. Denial-of-service campaigns were waged against PayPal, MasterCard, Visa, the Swedish government's Web site and others, preventing people from accessing the sites.
Assange has criticized Visa, MasterCard and PayPal for blocking donations to WikiLeaks, calling the companies "instruments of U.S. foreign policy," The Daily Telegraph reported.
He relayed his message about the companies and his views to his mother, and his comments were broadcast by an Australian news channel.
"I am calling on the world to protect my work and my people from these illegal and immoral acts," the WikiLeaks founder said.
"My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed," he said. "These circumstances shall not shake them. If anything, this process has increased my determination that they are true and correct."
