By Associated Press

LONDON: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has dropped an appeal of his 50-week prison term for jumping bail in Britain. Court officials said Thursday that a hearing on the appeal set for next week had been cancelled.

Assange is jailed in London's Belmarsh Prison at the same time as he fights extradition to the United States on serious espionage charges.

He jumped bail in 2012 when he sought refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London rather than turn himself in to British authorities for extradition to Sweden to answer questions about sexual misconduct allegations.

He denied the sexual misconduct allegations and says he sought asylum for protection from possible extradition to the US on charges related to his WikiLeaks work. Assange lost his protected asylum status in April and was arrested by British police.