Julian Assange Biography

Julian Assange (born 3 July 1971). He is an Australian journalist, publisher,  and Internet activist. He is the spokesperson  and editor in chief for WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website. Before working with the website, he was a computer programmer and hacker.  He has lived in several countries, and has made occasional public appearances to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative journalism.

Julian Assange founded the WikiLeaks website in 2006 and serves on its advisory board. He has been involved in publishing material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, for which he won the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award. He has also published material about toxic waste dumping in Africa, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer.  In 2010, he published classified details about United States involvement in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Then, on 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five media partners began publishing secret U.S. diplomatic cables. The White House calls Assange’s actions reckless and dangerous.

For his work with WikiLeaks, Assange received the 2008 Economist Freedom of Expression Award and the 2010 Sam Adams Award. Utne Reader named him as one of the “25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World”. In 2010, New Statesman ranked Assange number 23 among the “The World’s 50 Most Influential Figures”.

On 30 November 2010, at the request of the International Public Prosecution Office in Gothenburg, Sweden, Interpol placed Assange on its red notice list of wanted persons;  he was wanted for questioning about alleged sexual offenses, and voluntarily surrendered to the London Metropolitan Police Service on 7 December 2010. Assange denies the accusations made against him.