Content deleted Content added
rewrite Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit |
Jack Upland (talk | contribs) →Ecuadorian embassy period: Moving link to 2012-2013 Ecuador–United Kingdom diplomatic crisis to more appropriate place |
||
| (15 intermediate revisions by 10 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{Short description|Australian editor and founder of WikiLeaks (born 1971)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2023}}
Line 29:
Assange was raised in various places around Australia until his family settled in [[Melbourne]] in his middle teens. He became involved in the [[Hacker culture|hacker community]] and was convicted for [[Security hacker|hacking]] in 1996.<ref name="ManOfMystery2">{{cite news |last=Lagan |first=Bernard |date=10 April 2010 |title=International man of mystery |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |url=https://www.smh.com.au/technology/international-man-of-mystery-20100409-ryvf.html |access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="TeenHacker" /><ref name="Christian Science Monitor">{{Cite news |title=Julian Assange: the hacker who created WikiLeaks |work=Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Military/2010/0726/Julian-Assange-the-hacker-who-created-WikiLeaks |access-date=13 February 2023 |issn=0882-7729}}</ref> Following the establishment of WikiLeaks, Assange was its editor when it published the [[Bank Julius Baer v. WikiLeaks|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
On 11 April 2019, Assange's asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with Ecuadorian authorities.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/assange-arrest-ecuador-prevent-alleged-panic-button-2019-4|title=Assange's arrest was designed to make sure he didn't press a mysterious panic button he said would bring dire consequences for Ecuador|last=Ma|first=Alexandra|date=14 April 2019|website=Business Insider|access-date=14 April 2019}}</ref> The police were invited into the embassy and he was arrested.<ref name="cnnarr">{{Cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/11/uk/julian-assange-arrested-gbr-intl/index.html |title=Police arrest Julian Assange at Ecuadorian Embassy in London |work=CNN|date=11 April 2019 |access-date=11 April 2019}}</ref> He was found guilty of breaching the [[Bail in the United Kingdom#Bail in England and Wales|United Kingdom Bail Act]] and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.<ref name="bbc-19">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48118908|title=Julian Assange jailed over bail breach|date=1 May 2019|publisher=[[BBC News]]}}</ref> The [[Government of the United States|U.S. government]] unsealed [[Indictment and arrest of Julian Assange|an indictment]] charging Assange with [[Conspiracy against the United States|conspiracy]] to [[Computer Fraud and Abuse Act|commit computer intrusion]] related to the leaks provided by Manning.<ref>{{Cite web |date=11 April 2019 |title=WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Computer Hacking Conspiracy |url=https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-computer-hacking-conspiracy |access-date=9 January 2023 |work=United States Attorney's Office |location=Alexandria, Virginia}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 May 2019 |title=WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Charged in 18-Count Superseding Indictment |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-charged-18-count-superseding-indictment |access-date=9 January 2023 |work=US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=24 June 2020 |title=WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Superseding Indictment |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-superseding-indictment |access-date=9 January 2023 |work=US Department of Justice, Office of Public Affairs}}</ref><ref name="Time-2020">{{Cite magazine |date=25 June 2020 |title=WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Accused of Conspiring With LulzSec and Anonymous Hackers |url=https://time.com/5859079/julian-assange-hackers-anonymous-indictment/ |access-date=27 July 2023 |magazine=Time}}</ref> 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.<ref name="CNN010042021">{{cite web |last1=Rebaza |first1=Claudia |last2=Fox |first2=Kara |title=UK judge denies US request to extradite Julian Assange |date=4 January 2021 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/04/uk/julian-assange-extradition-wikileaks-us-gbr-intl/index.html |work=CNN|access-date=4 January 2021}}</ref><ref name="bail">{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/uk/julian-assange-bail-denied-gbr-intl/index.html |title=UK judge denies bail for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=6 January 2021 |access-date=6 January 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/09/julian-assange-dangerously-close-to-us-extradition-after-losing-latest-legal-appeal|title=Julian Assange 'dangerously close' to US extradition after losing latest legal appeal|first=Ben|last=Doherty|work=The Guardian|date=9 June 2023|access-date=10 June 2023}}</ref>
In
==Early life==
Assange was born Julian Paul Hawkins on 3 July 1971 in [[Townsville]], Queensland,<ref name="TeenHacker">{{cite news |last1=Leigh |first1=David |author-link1=David Leigh (journalist) |last2=Harding |first2=Luke Daniel |author-link2=Luke Harding |date=30 January 2011 |title=Julian Assange: the teen hacker who became insurgent in information war |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/jan/30/julian-assange-wikileaks-profile |access-date=17 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="born and bred">{{cite news |url=https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-a-born-and-bred-queenslander/news-story/79b09c0f921e077bc4473af5c5482989 |title=Wikileaks founder Julian Assange a born and bred Queenslander |work=[[The Courier-Mail]] |date=29 July 2010 |access-date=16 March 2014 }}</ref> to Christine Ann Hawkins
Julian Assange lived in more than thirty Australian towns and cities during his childhood.<ref name="AssangeTime">{{cite magazine |first=Massimo |last=Calabresi |url=https://time.com/5568727/wikileaks-war-on-secrecy/ |title=WikiLeaks' war on secrecy: truth's consequences |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=2 December 2010 |access-date=16 March 2014 }}</ref><ref name="InterviewObristOne">{{cite news |first=Hans Ulrich |last=Obrist |url=http://www.e-flux.com/journal/view/232 |title=In conversation with Julian Assange, Part I |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110507214151/http://e-flux.com/journal/view/232 |archive-date=7 May 2011 |work=e-flux |date=May 2011 |access-date=14 March 2014 }}</ref> He attended several schools, including [[Goolmangar, New South Wales|Goolmangar Primary School]] in [[New South Wales]] (1979–1983)<ref name="LismoreFeain"/> and [[Townsville State High School]] in Queensland<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.gilimbaa.com.au/newsarchive/535 |title=Jeremy Geia first Australian to interview Assange |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140126000224/http://www.gilimbaa.com.au/newsarchive/535 |archive-date=26 January 2014 |work=Gilimbaa |date=24 October 2012 |access-date=16 March 2014 }}</ref> as well as being schooled at home.<ref name="Khatchadourian"/> In his mid-teens, he settled with his mother and half-brother in [[Melbourne]]. He moved in with his girlfriend at age 17.<ref name="ManneCypherpunk" /><ref name="Underground" />
Line 49:
He and two others, known as "Trax" and "Prime Suspect", formed a [[Hacker group|hacking group]] called "the International Subversives".<ref name="Khatchadourian" /><ref name="Weiner-2010">{{Cite magazine |date=26 July 2010 |title=The Man Behind Wikileaks: A Julian Assange Cheat Sheet |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/07/the-man-behind-wikileaks-a-julian-assange-cheat-sheet |magazine=Vanity Fair |access-date=13 October 2022}}</ref><ref name="Greenberg-1059" /><ref name="Leigh-Harding-2011"/> According to [[NPR]], [[David Leigh (journalist)|David Leigh]], and [[Luke Harding]], Assange may have been involved in the [[WANK (computer worm)|WANK]] hack at [[NASA]] in 1989, but this has never been proven.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jenkins |first=Mark |title='We Steal Secrets': A Sidelong Look At WikiLeaks |website=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/2013/05/23/185533081/we-steal-secrets-a-sidelong-look-at-wikileaks}}</ref><ref name="ManOfMystery2"/><ref name="leigh and harding" />{{rp|42}} Assange called it "the origin of [[hacktivism]]", and the Swedish television documentary ''WikiRebels'', which was made with Assange's cooperation, also hinted he was involved.<ref name="ManneCypherpunk" /> The WANK worm was also discussed in the opening chapter of ''[[Underground (Dreyfus book)|Underground]]'', a book for which Assange was the researcher.
In mid-1991 the three hackers began targeting [[MILNET]],<ref name="Zetter-1059" /> a data network used by the US military, where Assange found reports he said showed the US military was hacking other parts of itself.<ref name="Underground" /> Assange found a [[Backdoor (computing)|backdoor]] and later said they "had control over it for two years."<ref name="Leigh-Harding-2011" /><ref name="Zetter-1059" /> In 2012, Ken Day, the former head of the Australian Federal Police computer crime team, said that there had been no evidence the International Subversives had hacked MILNET. In response to Assange's statements about accessing MILNET, Day said that "Assange may still be liable to prosecution for that
Assange wrote a program called Sycophant that allowed the International Subversives to conduct "massive attacks on the US military".<ref name="ManneCypherpunk" /> The International Subversives regularly hacked into systems belonging to a "who's who of the U.S. [[Military–industrial complex|military-industrial complex]]"<ref name="Underground" /><ref name="Savage-2010">{{Cite web |title=Julian Assange: The man who exposed the world |url=https://www.macleans.ca/society/technology/a-man-of-many-secrets/ |date=13 December 2010|location=Toronto|publisher=St. Joseph Communications|last=Savage|first=Luiza|author-link=Luiza Savage|website=[[Maclean's]]}}</ref><ref name="Wilentz-2014">{{Cite magazine |last=Wilentz |first=Sean |date=19 January 2014 |title=Would You Feel Differently About Snowden, Greenwald, and Assange If You Knew What They Really Thought? |magazine=The New Republic |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/116253/edward-snowden-glenn-greenwald-julian-assange-what-they-believe |access-date=20 February 2023 |issn=0028-6583}}</ref> and the network of [[Australian National University|Australia National University]].<ref name="Leigh-Harding-2011" /><ref name="Khatchadourian" /><ref name="Zetter-1059" /><ref name="Assange-2011">{{Cite web |last=Assange |first=Julian |date=21 September 2011 |title=Julian Assange: 'I am – like all hackers – a little bit autistic' |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/julian-assange-i-am-ndash-like-all-hackers-ndash-a-little-bit-autistic-2358654.html |access-date=13 February 2023 |website=The Independent}}</ref>
=== Arrest and trial ===
Line 160:
In 2013, US officials said it was unlikely that the Justice Department would indict Assange for publishing classified documents because it would also have to prosecute the news organisations and writers who published classified material.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Horwitz |first1=Sari |title=Julian Assange unlikely to face U.S. charges over publishing classified documents |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/julian-assange-unlikely-to-face-us-charges-over-publishing-classified-documents/2013/11/25/dd27decc-55f1-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html |access-date=8 September 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=25 November 2013|url-access=subscription}}</ref> In June 2013, ''[[The New York Times]]'' said that court and other documents suggested that Assange was being examined by a grand jury and "several government agencies", including by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]].<ref name="CarrSomaiya">{{cite news |first1=David |last1=Carr |first2=Ravi |last2=Somaiya |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/25/world/europe/wikileaks-back-in-news-never-left-us-radar.html |title=Assange, back in news, never left U.S. radar |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=24 June 2013 |access-date=15 March 2014}}</ref> Court documents published in May 2014 suggest that WikiLeaks was under "active and ongoing" investigation at that time.<ref>{{cite news |first=Philip |last=Dorling |url=https://www.smh.com.au/world/assange-targeted-by-fbi-probe-us-court-documents-reveal-20140520-38l1p.html |title=Assange targeted by FBI probe, US court documents reveal |work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]] |date=20 May 2014 |access-date=29 August 2014}}</ref>
Under the [[Presidency of Barack Obama|Obama Administration]], the Department of Justice did not indict Assange because it could not find evidence that his actions differed from those of a journalist.<ref name="Greenwald-2019">{{Cite web |last1=Greenwald |first1=Glenn |last2=Lee |first2=Micah |date=12 April 2019 |title=The U.S. Government's Indictment of Julian Assange Poses Grave Threats to Press Freedoms |url=https://theintercept.com/2019/04/11/the-u-s-governments-indictment-of-julian-assange-poses-grave-threats-to-press-freedoms/ |access-date=12 April 2019 |website=The Intercept}}</ref> During the [[
In April 2017, US officials were preparing to file formal charges against Assange.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2017/04/20/politics/julian-assange-wikileaks-us-charges/index.html|title=Sources: US prepares charges against WikiLeaks' Assange |first1=Evan |last1=Perez |first2=Pamela |last2=Brown |author3-link=Shimon Prokupecz |first3=Shimon |last3=Prokupecz |first4=Eric|last4=Bradner|publisher=CNN|date=20 April 2017}}</ref> Assange's indictment was unsealed in 2019 and expanded on later that year and in 2020.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Megerian |first1=Chris |last2=Boyle |first2=Christina |last3=Wilber |first3=Del Quentin |date=11 April 2019 |title=WikiLeaks' Julian Assange faces U.S. hacking charge after dramatic arrest in London |work=The Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/la-fg-britain-julian-assange-arrested-20190411-story.html |access-date=11 April 2019}}</ref><ref name="doj-assange-june-20202">{{cite web |date=24 June 2020 |title=WikiLeaks Founder Charged in Superseding Indictment |url=https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/wikileaks-founder-charged-superseding-indictment |access-date=29 September 2020 |publisher=United States Department of Justice}}</ref> The legal scholar [[Steve Vladeck]] said that prosecutors likely accelerated the case in 2019 due to the impending [[statute of limitations]] on Assange's largest leaks.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chelsea Manning subpoenaed to testify before grand jury in Assange investigation |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/chelsea-manning-subpoenaed-to-testify-before-grand-jury-in-assange-investigation/2019/03/01/fe3bd582-3c32-11e9-a06c-3ec8ed509d15_story.html |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref>
Line 172:
==Ecuadorian embassy period==
{{See also|2012-2013 Ecuador–United Kingdom diplomatic crisis}}
===Entering the embassy===
[[File:Julian Assange in Ecuadorian Embassy cropped.jpg|thumb|Assange on the balcony of [[Embassy of Ecuador, London|Ecuadorian embassy in London]] in 2012]]
In justifying his move, Assange said Sweden had a "very, very poor judicial system", weakened by external political meddling, careerism, and a culture of "crazed radical feminist ideology". More important, the case was a matter of international politics. "Sweden is a U.S. [[satrap]]y," he said.<ref name="Man without a country">{{cite magazine |author=Khatchadourian, Raffi |date=14 August 2017 |title=Julian Assange, a Man Without a Country |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/08/21/julian-assange-a-man-without-a-country |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |access-date=9 September 2021 |quote=He }}</ref> Assange and his supporters said he was not concerned about any proceedings in Sweden as such but said that the Swedish allegations were designed to discredit him and were a pretext for his extradition from Sweden to the United States.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Specia |first1=Megan |title=Sweden Reopens Rape Case Against Julian Assange |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/13/world/europe/wikileaks-julian-assange.html |access-date=25 September 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=13 May 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams |first1=Jennifer |title=UK signs order for WikiLeaks' Julian Assange to be extradited to the US |url=https://www.vox.com/2019/6/13/18677292/julian-assange-wikileaks-extradition-uk-us-espionage-hacking-chelsea-manning |access-date=25 September 2020 |work=Vox |date=13 June 2019}}</ref><ref name="smh200612">{{cite news |last1=Dorling |first1=Philip |date=20 June 2012 |title=Assange felt 'abandoned' by Australian government after letter from Roxon |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/assange-felt-abandoned-by-australian-government-after-letter-from-roxon-20120620-20npj.html |access-date=19 November 2018}}</ref>
Line 419 ⟶ 420:
* 2008, [[Economist (magazine)|''The Economist'']] New Media Award<ref>{{cite web|title=Index on Censorship Award winners 2008|url=https://www.indexoncensorship.org/index-on-censorship-awards-archive/index-on-censorship-award-winners-2008/|website=Index on Censorship|access-date=12 July 2015|date=16 December 2008}}</ref>
* 2009, [[Amnesty International UK Media Awards|Amnesty International UK New Media Award]] for ''Kenya: The Cry of Blood—Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances''<ref>{{cite news|title=Amnesty International Media Awards 2009: full list of winners|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/jun/03/amnesty-international-media-awards|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=8 July 2015|date=3 June 2009}}</ref>
* 2010, [[Time Person of the Year|''Time'' Person of the Year]], Reader's Choice<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Julian Assange: Readers' Choice for TIME's Person of the Year 2010|url=
* 2010, [[Sam Adams Award]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Julian Assange|url=http://samadamsaward.ch/julian-assange/|website=Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence|access-date=8 July 2015|date=23 October 2010}}</ref>
* 2010, [[Le Monde|Le Monde Readers' Choice Award for Person of the Year]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301727|title=Julian Assange 'Man of the Year' according to Le Monde|first=Edward|last=Xiao|work=Digital Journal|date=24 December 2010|access-date=31 January 2019}}</ref>
| |||