Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (2024)

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (1)Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (2)Reuters

Julian Assange has arrived in Australia after walking free from an American court following a deal with US authorities.

He pleaded guilty to one criminal charge under the deal after fighting against extradition to the US, where he was accused of disclosing military secrets.

What did Julian Assange do?

Mr Assange ran Wikileaks, a website that published many confidential or restricted official reports related to war, spying and corruption.

In 2010, it released a video from a US military helicopter which showed civilians being killed in the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

It also published thousands of confidential documents supplied by former US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. These suggested that the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the war in Afghanistan.

The revelations became a huge story, prompting reaction from all corners of the globe, and led to intense scrutiny of American involvement in foreign conflicts.

The US said the leaks had endangered the lives of American personnel.

Mr Assange was accused of conspiring to break into its military databases to acquire sensitive information, and was charged with 18 offences.

Efforts were made to bring him to the US for prosecution - which he fought for 14 years in some of the world's highest courts.

Mr Assange has always argued that he exposed serious abuses by US armed forces, and that the case against him was politically motivated.

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (3)Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (4)Wikileaks

Who is Julian Assange?

Born in Australia, Mr Assange is described by those who have worked with him as intense, driven and highly intelligent, with an exceptional ability to crack computer codes.

He gained a reputation for computer programming as a teenager. In 1995, he was fined for hacking offences.

He also co-wrote a bestselling book on the emerging, subversive side of the internet, before studying physics and maths.

What were the sexual assault allegations against Julian Assange?

In 2010 - the year Wikileaks released the footage of US soldiers shooting dead Iraqi civilians - the Swedish authorities issued an arrest warrant for Mr Assange, accusing him of having raped one woman and molested another.

This marked the start of Mr Assange's 14-year legal battle.

He was detained in the UK and denied the claims against him, arguing that they were a ploy to extradite him to the US to face espionage charges over the Wikileaks disclosures.

In 2012, he claimed asylum in the Ecuadorean embassy in London - having found sympathy for his cause from the country's then-president.

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (5)Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (6)PA

Mr Assange spent seven years in the embassy, and was regularly visited by celebrity supporters including the singer Lady Gaga and the actress Pamela Anderson.

When he was ordered to leave the building by a later Ecuadorean president, he was arrested by UK police, and went on to spend five years in a British prison as he continued efforts to fight extradition to the US.

In November 2019, the Swedish authorities dropped the case against Mr Assange because they said too much time had passed since the alleged offences.

Why has Julian Assange been released now?

Mr Assange's release from a UK prison comes after a deal under which he pleaded guilty to one charge under the US Espionage Act. He will spend no time in a US jail.

Mr Assange's supporters said the agreement was reached after intense diplomatic efforts and pressure from Australia. The country's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the case had "dragged on too long".

The hearing took place in the Northern Mariana Islands, an American territory in the Pacific Ocean.

US President Joe Biden had previously said he would consider a formal request to drop charges - a remark that was welcomed by Mr Assange's supporters, who cited his ill-health.

Mr Assange's wife Stella Assange suggested a "breakthrough" was finally reached after the UK High Court began to consider her husband's constitutional protections under the freedom of the press.

She told the BBC that she was "elated" about his release, but that it had been "touch and go" at times.

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (7)Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (8)Getty Images

What is Wikileaks and what else has it done?

Mr Assange's website, which he set up in 2006, claims to have published more than 10 million documents on all manner of topics.

It is currently led by Icelandic journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson.

As well as the revelations related to Iraq and Afghanistan, it published a leak of documents from movie studio Sony Pictures in 2015.

It also disclosed thousands of hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss John Podesta, in the run-up to the 2016 US presidential election.

To its supporters, the whistleblowing website is a key player in exposing secrets governments and companies would rather keep hidden.

But those whose documents were exposed on the web argue it is a dangerous and reckless force.

Who is Stella Assange?

Ms Assange is a Swedish-Spanish lawyer.

The couple began their relationship in 2015, and have two children together, Max and Gabriel.

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (9)Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (10)Getty Images

They married inside London's Belmarsh prison - where Mr Assange was held at the time - in 2022.

Her dress was designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler.

Six guests attended, including Mr Assange's two brothers and his father.

Julian Assange

Wikileaks

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? (2024)

FAQs

Who is Wikileaks' Julian Assange and what did he do? ›

It published thousands of US military field logs from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq war, diplomatic cables from the United States and Saudi Arabia, and emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey.

What did WikiLeaks do? ›

It published thousands of US military field logs from the war in Afghanistan and Iraq war, diplomatic cables from the United States and Saudi Arabia, and emails from the governments of Syria and Turkey.

What nationality is Julian Assange's wife? ›

Stella Assange (née Sara Gonzalez Devant; born 1983) is a Swedish-Spanish lawyer. Throughout her career, she has been an international advocate for human rights, most prominently in the case of her husband, Julian Assange. She changed her name first to Stella Moris in 2012 and later to Stella Moris-Smith Robertson.

Who is the father of Julian Assange? ›

John Shipton (born circa 1944) is an Australian anti-war activist and architect, best known as the father of Julian Assange (who adopted the surname of his step-father). He founded the WikiLeaks Party and was involved with the creation of the website WikiLeaks and helped with WikiLeaks for years.

What exactly did Julian Assange do? ›

In December 1996, facing a theoretical sentence of 290 years in prison, he struck a plea deal and pleaded guilty to 24 hacking charges including breaches of the Crimes Act, and fraudulent use of a telecommunications network.

Who is the WikiLeaks guy? ›

Julian P. Assange, 52, the founder of WikiLeaks, pleaded guilty today to conspiring with Chelsea Manning, at that time a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, to unlawfully obtain and disclose classified documents relating to the national defense.

Who is Julian Assange's lawyer? ›

Jennifer Robinson (born 1981) is an Australian human rights lawyer and barrister with Doughty Street Chambers in London. Robinson is best known for her role as a long-standing member of the legal team defending Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.

What is the ethnicity of Julian CA? ›

Julian, CA is home to a population of 1.38k people, from which 98.9% are citizens. As of 2022, 7.7% of Julian, CA residents were born outside of the country (106 people). In 2022, there were 3.57 times more White (Non-Hispanic) residents (1.08k people) in Julian, CA than any other race or ethnicity.

What ethnicity is Julian Castro? ›

Castro was born in San Antonio, Texas, the son of Maria "Rosie" Castro and Jessie Guzman. He is the identical twin brother of current United States Representative Joaquin Castro; Julián was born a minute before Joaquin; they were born at 2:40 and 2:41 am, respectively. Castro is of Mexican descent.

What is the WikiLeaks scandal 2015? ›

On 16 April 2015, WikiLeaks published a searchable version of the Sony Archives which were originally obtained in November 2014 by the hacker group "Guardians of Peace". The leak contained 30,287 documents from Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) and 173,132 emails between more than 2,200 SPE email addresses.

What is the relationship between WikiLeaks and Wikipedia? ›

WikiLeaks is not affiliated with Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Foundation in any way whatsoever. "Wiki" is a generic word that anyone can use; it is not a brand name or trademark. A wiki is any website that allows the creation and editing of interlinked webpages via a web browser.

What is Chelsea Manning doing now? ›

Former President Barack Obama later reduced Manning's sentence, and she was released in May 2017. Manning currently works as a security consultant at Nym Technologies, a network that aims to prevent governments and companies from tracking people's online activities.

What embassy was Julian Assange in? ›

In 2012, while on bail, Julian Assange was granted political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he sought to avoid extradition to Sweden, and what his supporters said was the possibility of subsequent extradition to the US.

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