Chronicling the story of the mind behind WikiLeaks
Julian Assange is a name that has dominated headlines for almost 10 years. Assange is credited as the founder of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. The website has garnered world-wide attention and controversy with its seemingly fearless pursuit of publishing private and confidential documents. At the forefront of this attention is Assange, who has suffered from a troubled past as the face of the ground breaking site. Assange has stayed under the radar while in political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, trying to evade criminal charges and extradition. He is currently making headlines again as a UN panel on human rights has declared that he is being arbitrarily detained by the U.K. and Sweden. This article will attempt to chronicle Assange’s life and examine the events that have led up to this decision by the United Nations.
Hailing from Townsville, Australia, Assange showed an interest in computers from an early age, and used his incredible IQ and adeptness for computers to hack into databases of high profile organizations. Assange had his first run in with the law in 1991, when he was faced with over 30 counts of hacking for infiltrating the system of the main terminal of Nortel—the charges were later dropped. This lead Assange to pursue a career in computer programming, but he dropped out before he could graduate.
Assange’s “hacktivist” ways prompted him to begin work on WikiLeaks in 2006. WikiLeaks basically gives anybody with access to a computer and [pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]…a UN panel released a ruling that Assange is being arbitrarily detained…[/pullquote]
the internet the ability to share private and confidential documents anonymously with the entire world. After its official launch in 2007, WikiLeaks published several documents ranging from confidential documents on Guantanamo Bay to private emails sent from then Vice President candidate Sarah Palin. However, it was a video that was submitted to WikiLeaks in 2010 that made both Assange and the website a household name. The video titled “Collateral Murder” showed American choppers killing several Iraqi civilians—some of whom were children. The video also showed those involved in the killings joking about their actions over radio as they fired at civilians.
The release of the video made WikiLeaks well-known enough for many to release confidential documents through the website for maximum exposure. This paved the way for individuals like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, who have faced criminal charges for exposing documents to WikiLeaks. Other releases from WikiLeaks includes several emails between U.S. ambassadors and the White House, and massive releases of secret documents regarding Afghanistan and Iraq. This fearlessness has not gone unchecked as several world leaders took note of Assange and WikiLeaks.
As Assange’s celebrity status increased he lived a nomadic lifestyle across Europe. He is wanted on allegations of sexual assault in Sweden. Assange, fearing persecution from the authorities, escaped to England where he first turned himself in and was then released on bail. Assange then sought political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London where he is considered a political refugee. Assange, to this day, claims that the charges are part of a smear campaign against him and his website.
It has now been six years since Assange entered the embassy and has refused to leave fearing extradition to Sweden, and then to the United States, which he believes will charge him for the leak of several classified documents which could lead to him receiving the death penalty. On Feb. 5, 2016, a UN panel released a ruling that Assange is being arbitrarily detained by the U.K. and Sweden. Despite this, the U.K. and Sweden continue to deny any wrongdoing and still want Assange to be arrested, with the U.K’s foreign minister Philip Hammond tweeting that “#Assange is a fugitive from justice, voluntarily hiding in the Ecuadorian embassy.” Hammond’s tweet continues with his forthright rejection of the report from the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. This report, however, does have implications and puts pressure on both governments to do something about a situation that has gone unchecked for a while. Assange’s team hopes that this will be a light at the end of a very long tunnel. Until then, Wikileaks.com has already resisted several attempts at being shutdown and is still active.