Julian Assange

Julian Assange
Assange in 2014
Born
Julian Paul Hawkins

(1971-07-03) 3 July 1971 (age 53)
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Citizenship
  • Australia
  • Ecuador (2017–2021)
Occupations
  • Editor
  • publisher
  • activist
Years active1987–2019
Known forFounding WikiLeaks
TitleDirector[1] and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks (2006–2018); publisher (since 2018)[2]
Political partyWikiLeaks Party (2013–2015)
Criminal charges1x Conspiracy to Obtain and Disclose National Defence Information (2024)
Criminal penaltyTime served (62 months)
Spouses
  • Teresa Assange
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1989; div. 1999)​
  • ​
    (m. 2022)​
Signature
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Julian Paul Assange (/əˈsɑːnʒ/ ⓘ ə-SAHNZH;[3] né Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from Chelsea Manning, a United States Army intelligence analyst:[4] footage of a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad, U.S. military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and U.S. diplomatic cables. Assange has won multiple awards for publishing and journalism.

Assange was raised in various places around Australia until his family settled in Melbourne in his middle teens. He became involved in the hacker community and was convicted for hacking in 1996.[5][6][7] Following the establishment of WikiLeaks, Assange was its editor when it published the Bank Julius Baer documents, footage of the 2008 Tibetan unrest, and a report on political killings in Kenya with The Sunday Times. Publication of the leaks from Manning started in February 2010.

In November 2010 Sweden wished to question Assange in an unrelated police investigation and sought to extradite him from the UK.[8] In June 2012, Assange breached his bail and took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London.[9] He was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012[10] on the grounds of political persecution and fears he might be extradited to the United States.[11] In 2013, he launched the WikiLeaks Party and unsuccessfully stood for the Australian Senate.[12][13] Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation in 2019.[14]

On 11 April 2019, Assange's asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with Ecuadorian authorities.[15] The police were invited into the embassy and he was arrested.[16] He was found guilty of breaching the United Kingdom Bail Act and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.[17] The U.S. government unsealed an indictment charging Assange with conspiracy to commit computer intrusion related to the leaks provided by Manning.[18] In May 2019 and June 2020, the U.S. government unsealed new indictments against Assange, charging him with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and alleging he had conspired with hackers.[19][20][21] Assange was incarcerated in HM Prison Belmarsh in London from April 2019 to June 2024, as the U.S. government's extradition effort was contested in the UK courts.[22][23][24]

In June 2024, Assange agreed to a plea deal with U.S. prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified U.S. national defence documents in return for a sentence of time served.[25][26] Following the hearing Assange flew to Australia, arriving on 26 June.[27]

  1. ^ McGreal, Chris (5 April 2010). "Wikileaks reveals video showing US air crew shooting down Iraqi civilians". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 26 June 2011. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  2. ^ "WikiLeaks names one-time spokesman as editor-in-chief". Associated Press. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  3. ^ "The Julian Assange Show: Cypherpunks Uncut (p.1)" on YouTube
  4. ^ "USA must drop charges against Julian Assange". Amnesty International. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  5. ^ Lagan, Bernard (10 April 2010). "International man of mystery". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 March 2014.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference TeenHacker was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Julian Assange: the hacker who created WikiLeaks". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  8. ^ "Wikileaks' Assange faces international arrest warrant". BBC News. 20 November 2010.
  9. ^ Bowater, Donna (20 June 2012). "Julian Assange faces re-arrest over breaching his bail condition by seeking asylum in Ecuador". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022.
  10. ^ Neuman, William; Ayala, Maggy (16 August 2012). "Ecuador Grants Asylum to Assange, Defying Britain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
  11. ^ Wallace, Arturo (16 August 2012). "Julian Assange: Why Ecuador is offering asylum". BBC. Retrieved 16 May 2019.
  12. ^ Dorling, Philip (26 March 2012). "Assange: what I'll do in the Senate". The Age. Retrieved 9 October 2023.
  13. ^ "Julian Assange: WikiLeaks party will continue". The Guardian. 8 September 2013.
  14. ^ "Julian Assange: Sweden drops rape investigation". BBC. 19 November 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  15. ^ Ma, Alexandra (14 April 2019). "Assange's arrest was designed to make sure he didn't press a mysterious panic button he said would bring dire consequences for Ecuador". Business Insider. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
  16. ^ "Police arrest Julian Assange at Ecuadorian Embassy in London". CNN. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  17. ^ "Julian Assange jailed over bail breach". BBC News. 1 May 2019.
  18. ^ "WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy". United States Attorney's Office. Alexandria, Virginia. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  19. ^ "WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Charged in 18-Count Superseding Indictment". US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. 23 May 2019. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  20. ^ "WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Superseding Indictment". US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs. 24 June 2020. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  21. ^ "WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Accused of Conspiring With LulzSec and Anonymous Hackers". Time. 25 June 2020. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  22. ^ Rebaza, Claudia; Fox, Kara (4 January 2021). "UK judge denies US request to extradite Julian Assange". CNN. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  23. ^ "UK judge denies bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange". CNN. 6 January 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  24. ^ Doherty, Ben (9 June 2023). "Julian Assange 'dangerously close' to US extradition after losing latest legal appeal". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  25. ^ Yamaguchi, Mari; Richer, Alanna Durkin; Esmores, Kimberly; Tucker, Eric (25 June 2024). "WikiLeaks' Assange pleads guilty in deal with US that secures his freedom, ends legal fight". Associated Press. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  26. ^ Nakashima, Ellen; Barrett, Devlin; Weiner, Rachel (24 June 2024). "Wikileaks founder Julian Assange expected to plead guilty to felony charge". The Washington Post. Retrieved 25 June 2024.
  27. ^ "Julian Assange to attend plea deal hearing in Saipan". The Washington Post. 25 June 2024. Retrieved 25 June 2024.