Julian Assange
Australian editor, publisher, and activist, founder of WikiLeaks (born 1971) / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Dear Wikiwand AI, let's keep it short by simply answering these key questions:
Can you list the top facts and stats about Julian Assange?
Summarize this article for a 10 year old
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 wide international attention in 2010 when WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning:[4] footage of a US airstrike in Baghdad, US military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and US diplomatic cables. Assange has won multiple awards for publishing and journalism.
Julian Assange | |
---|---|
Born | Julian Paul Hawkins (1971-07-03) 3 July 1971 (age 52) Townsville, Queensland, Australia |
Citizenship |
|
Occupations |
|
Years active | 1987–present |
Known for | Founding WikiLeaks |
Title | Director[1] and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks (2006–2018); publisher (since 2018)[2] |
Political party | WikiLeaks (2013–2015) |
Spouses |
|
Awards | Full list |
Signature | |
Assange was raised in several towns in Australia until his family settled in Melbourne in his mid-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.
In November 2010, Sweden issued a European arrest warrant for Assange, for questioning in an investigation.[8] After losing his appeal against the warrant, he breached bail and took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London in June 2012.[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] He stood for the Australian Senate in 2013 and launched the WikiLeaks Party but failed to win a seat.[12][13] Swedish prosecutors dropped the 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On 11 April 2019, Assange's asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with Ecuadorian authorities.[15] The police were invited into the embassy and he was arrested.[16] He was found guilty of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 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 has been incarcerated in HM Prison Belmarsh in London since April 2019, as the United States government's extradition effort is contested in the British courts.[22][23][24]