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Early Life
Assange was educated with a combination of homeschooling and correspondence courses. Нe demonstrated an uncanny aptitude with computers, he infiltrated a number of secure systems. In 1991 Australian authorities charged him with 31 counts of cybercrime; he pleaded guilty to most of them. At sentencing he received only a small fine as punishment. Assange traveled, studied physics at the University of Melbourne, and worked as a computer security consultant. -
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Creation Of WikiLeaks
Assange created WikiLeaks in 2006 to serve as a clearinghouse for sensitive or classified documents. Its first publication, posted to the WikiLeaks Web site in December 2006, was a message from a Somali rebel leader encouraging the use of hired gunmen to assassinate government officials. The document’s authenticity was never verified, but the story of WikiLeaks and questions regarding the ethics of its methods soon overshadowed it. -
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Early WikiLeaks Activity
In 2010 WikiLeaks posted half a million documents obtained from US Army intelligence analyst Bradley. In November of that year, WikiLeaks began publishing an estimated 250,000 confidential US diplomatic cables. Those classified documents were dated from 2007 to 2010, but they included some dating back as far as 1966. Among the wide-ranging topics covered were behind-the-scenes US efforts to politically and economically isolate Iran in response to fears of Iran’s development of nuclear weapons -
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Legal Issues
Assange became the target of much of that ire. He also faced prosecution in Sweden. Assange was arrested in London in December 2010 and held without bond, pending possible extradition to Sweden. In December 2011 the British High Court found that Assange’s extradition case was “of general public importance” and recommended that it be heard by the Supreme Court. According to a New York Times article, Assange came to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in June 2012 -
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Political Asylum at London's Ecuadorean Embassy
Assange came to the Ecuadorean Embassy in London in June 2012, seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden. Assange was granted Ecuadorian citizenship in December 2017, but his relationship with his adopted country soon soured. In March 2018, the government cut off his internet access on the grounds that his actions endangered "the good relations that the country maintains with the United Kingdom, with the rest of the states of the European Union, and other nations." -
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Influencing the 2016 U.S. Presidential Race
Assange and WikiLeaks returned to the headlines during the summer of 2016 as the U.S. presidential race was narrowing to two main candidates, Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump. On the eve of the election, Assange released a statement in which he declared no "personal desire to influence the outcome," noting that he never received documents from the Trump campaign to publish. -
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Arrest and Indictment
In April 2019, after Ecuador announced the withdrawal of Assange's asylum, the WikiLeaks founder was arrested at the London embassy. Shortly afterward, it was announced that U.S. authorities had charged Assange with conspiring with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break into a classified government computer at the Pentagon. On May 1, Assange was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for skipping bail back in 2012, when he found refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy. -
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How is Julian Assange doing right now?
His physical and mental state are in serious decline. He still spends 23 hours a day in his cell. Although he has not formally been placed in solitary confinement, the conditions of his detention effectively amount to solitary confinement. Assange has had no visitors for six months. He had no meetings with family since all visits were cancelled. Assange will be held in a high-security prison if he gets extradited to the US.