CASE BEGINS

Julian Assange’s extradition hearing begins in London court.

LONDON — Truthtelling journalist or reckless criminal: A British judge was given two conflicting portraits of Julian Assange as the WikiLeaks founder’s long-awaited extradition hearing began Monday in a London court.

A lawyer for the U.S. authorities, who want to try Assange on espionage charges, said the Australian computer expert was an

“ordinary” criminal whose publication of hundreds of thousands of secret military documents a decade ago put many people at risk of torture and death.

“Reporting or journalism is not an excuse for criminal activities or a license to break ordinary criminal laws,” said James Lewis, a British lawyer representing the U.S. government.

Assange’s lawyer countered that the WikiLeaks publisher was being victimized by a “lawless” American

government that wanted to make an example of him.

Attorney Edward Fitzgerald also said the “inhuman” conditions Assange was likely to face in an American prison would put him at high risk of suicide.

Dozens of Assange supporters protested outside the high-security Woolwich Crown Court, chanting and setting off a horn as District Judge Vanessa Baraitser began hearing the case, which is due to last several months.

Assange, 48, watched proceedings from the dock in the courtroom — he was brought there from Belmarsh Prison next door. He complained that he was having difficulty concentrating and called the noise from outside “not helpful.”

Assange has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over the publication of classified documents. Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea

Manning to crack a password, hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Assange argues he was acting as a journalist entitled to First Amendment protection and says the leaked documents exposed U.S. military wrongdoing.

But Lewis said Assange was guilty of “straightforward” criminal activity in trying to hack the computer. And he said WikiLeaks’ activities created a “grave and imminent risk” to U.S. intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“By disseminating the materials in an unredacted form, he likely put people — human rights activists, journalists, advocates, religious leaders, dissidents and their families — at risk of serious harm, torture or even death,” the lawyer said.

Assange’s lawyers argued that the U.S. charges are a politically motivated abuse of power.