171 Facts About Julian Assange

Julian Paul Assange is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006.

Julian Assange came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of leaks from Chelsea Manning, a United States Army intelligence analyst: footage of a US airstrike in Baghdad, US military logs from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and US diplomatic cables.

Julian Assange was raised in various places around Australia until his family settled in Melbourne in his middle teens.

Julian Assange became involved in the hacker community and was convicted for hacking in 1996.

In June 2012, Julian Assange breached his bail and took refuge in the Embassy of Ecuador in London.

Julian Assange was granted asylum by Ecuador in August 2012 on the grounds of political persecution and fears he might be extradited to the United States.

On 11 April 2019, Julian Assange's asylum was withdrawn following a series of disputes with Ecuadorian authorities; the police were invited into the embassy and he was arrested.

Julian Assange was found guilty of breaching the United Kingdom Bail Act and sentenced to 50 weeks in prison.

In May 2019 and June 2020, the US government unsealed new indictments against Julian Assange, charging him with violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and alleging he had conspired with hackers.

Julian Assange was incarcerated in HM Prison Belmarsh in London from April 2019 to June 2024, as the US government's extradition effort was contested in the UK courts.

Julian Assange agreed to a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to an Espionage Act charge of conspiring to obtain and disclose classified US national defence documents in return for a sentence of time served.

Christine then became involved with Leif Meynell, known as Leif Hamilton, whom Julian Assange later described as "a member of an Australian cult" called The Family.

Julian Assange lived in more than thirty Australian towns and cities during his childhood.

Julian Assange attended several schools, including Goolmangar Primary School in New South Wales and Townsville State High School in Queensland as well as being schooled at home.

Julian Assange moved in with his girlfriend at age 17.

Julian Assange studied programming, mathematics, and physics at Central Queensland University and the University of Melbourne, but did not complete a degree.

Julian Assange started the Puzzle Hunt tradition at the University of Melbourne, which was modelled after the MIT Mystery Hunt.

Julian Assange was involved in the Melbourne rave scene, and assisted in installing an internet kiosk at Ollie Olsen's club night called "Psychic Harmony", which was held at Dream nightclub in Carlton.

Ultimately, no charges were raised and his equipment was returned, but Julian Assange "decided that it might be wise to be a bit more discreet".

In 1988 Julian Assange used social engineering to get the password to Australia's Overseas Telecommunications Commission's mainframes.

Julian Assange had a self-imposed set of ethics: he did not damage or crash systems or data he hacked, and he shared information.

Julian Assange called it "the origin of hacktivism", and the Swedish television documentary WikiRebels, which was made with Julian Assange's cooperation, hinted he was involved.

In mid-1991 the three hackers began targeting MILNET, a data network used by the US military, where Julian Assange found reports he said showed the US military was hacking other parts of itself.

Julian Assange wrote a program called Sycophant that allowed the International Subversives to conduct "massive attacks on the US military".

Julian Assange later said he had been "a famous teenage hacker in Australia, and I've been reading generals' emails since I was 17".

Julian Assange has attributed his motivation to this experience with power.

In September 1991, Julian Assange was discovered hacking into the Melbourne master terminal of Nortel, a Canadian multinational telecommunications corporation.

The earliest detailed reports about Julian Assange are 1990s Australian press reports on him and print and TV news of his trial.

Julian Assange was charged in 1994 with 31 counts of crimes related to hacking, including defrauding Telecom Australia, fraudulent use of a telecommunications network, obtaining access to information, erasing data, and altering data.

Julian Assange fell into a deep depression while waiting for his trial and checked himself into a psychiatric hospital and then spent six months sleeping in the wilderness around Melbourne.

The judge told Julian Assange "you have pleaded guilty, the proceedings are over" and advised him to be quiet.

Julian Assange has described the trial as a formative period and according to The New Republic, "the experience set him on the intellectual path" leading him to found WikiLeaks.

In 1993, Julian Assange provided technical advice and support to help the Victoria Police Child Exploitation Unit to prosecute individuals responsible for publishing and distributing child pornography.

Julian Assange's lawyers said he was pleased to assist, emphasising that he received no benefit for this and was not an informer.

Julian Assange joined the cypherpunk mailing list in late 1993 or early 1994.

Julian Assange began programming in 1994, authoring or co-authoring network and encryption programs, such as the Rubberhose deniable encryption system.

Julian Assange wrote other programs to make the Internet more accessible and developed cyber warfare systems like the Strobe port scanner which could look for weaknesses in hundreds of thousands of computers at any one time.

In October 1998, Julian Assange decided to visit friends and announced on the cypherpunks mailing list he would be "hopscotching" through Russia, Mongolia, China, Poland and Eastern Europe.

Julian Assange told Suelette Dreyfus that he had "acted as a conduit for leaked documents" when fighting local corruption.

In November 1996 Julian Assange sent an email to lists he had created and mentioned a "LEAKS" project.

From 2007 to 2010, Julian Assange travelled continuously on WikiLeaks business, visiting Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America.

In December 2006, the month WikiLeaks posted its first leak, Julian Assange published a five-page essay that outlined the "thought experiment" behind the WikiLeaks strategy: use leaks to force organisations to reduce levels of abuse and dishonesty or pay "secrecy tax" to be secret but inefficient.

Julian Assange found key supporters at the Chaos Computer Club conference in Berlin in December 2007, including Daniel Domscheit-Berg and Jacob Appelbaum and the Swedish hosting company PRQ.

The organisation maintained a larger group of volunteers, and Julian Assange relied upon networks of others with expertise.

Julian Assange said that six men with guns tried to attack the compound that he slept at in Kenya after the report was published, but were scared away when a guard shouted.

Julian Assange commented that financial institutions ordinarily "operate outside the rule of law", and he received extensive legal support from free-speech and civil rights groups.

In July 2009 Julian Assange released through Wikileaks the full report of a commission of inquiry, set up by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, into corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

Julian Assange said that he hoped the publication would "correct some of that attack on the truth that occurred before the war, during the war, and which has continued after the war".

Julian Assange told a media partner that he owned the information and had a financial interest in how it was released.

In March 2010 a member of WikiLeaks using the handle "Ox", widely believed to be Julian Assange, talked to Chelsea Manning by text chat while she was submitting leaks to WikiLeaks.

The US referred to these chat logs in the 2018 indictment of Julian Assange and filed an affidavit which said they were able to identify Assange as the person chatting with Manning using hints he made during the chats and that Manning identified him as Assange to Adrian Lamo.

Julian Assange said he was, and told Manning about rainbow tables that WikiLeaks used to crack hashes and find passwords associated with them.

An affidavit by an FBI agent involved in bringing the case against Julian Assange claimed this showed an "illegal agreement" to help crack a password.

The US cited the release in the opening of its request for extradition of Julian Assange, saying his actions put lives at risk.

Lawyers for Julian Assange gave evidence it said would show that Julian Assange was careful to protect lives.

WikiLeaks said Julian Assange never applied for the visa or wrote the letter.

Julian Assange left Sweden for UK on 27 September 2010; an international arrest warrant was issued the same day.

In June 2012, Julian Assange breached bail and sought refuge at Ecuador's Embassy in London and was granted asylum.

Julian Assange said in these proceedings that he feared he would ultimately be extradited to the United States if he were sent to Sweden.

In June 2019, the Uppsala District Court denied a request to detain Julian Assange, thereby preventing his extradition to Sweden.

Julian Assange gave the FBI several hard drives he had copied from Assange and core WikiLeaks members.

Julian Assange said that WikiLeaks has no way of knowing the identity of its sources and that chats with sources, including user-names, were anonymous.

In January 2011, Julian Assange described the allegation that WikiLeaks had conspired with Manning, had communicated with Manning, as "absolute nonsense" because WikiLeaks only learned Manning's name from media reports.

In 2013 US officials said it was unlikely that the Justice Department would indict Julian Assange for publishing classified documents because it would have to prosecute the news organisations and writers who published classified material.

In June 2013, The New York Times said that court and other documents suggested that Julian Assange was being examined by a grand jury and "several government agencies", including by the FBI.

Julian Assange's indictment was unsealed in 2019 and expanded on later that year and in 2020.

On 19 June 2012, the Ecuadorian foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, announced that Julian Assange had applied for political asylum, that the Ecuadorian government was considering his request, and that Julian Assange was at the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Julian Assange was limited to roughly 30 square metres and ate a combination of takeaways and food prepared by the embassy staff.

In justifying his move, Julian Assange said Sweden had a "very, very poor judicial system", weakened by external political meddling, careerism, and a culture of "crazed radical feminist ideology".

Julian Assange breached his bail conditions by taking up residence in the embassy rather than appearing in court and faced arrest if he left.

The Australian attorney-general, Nicola Roxon, wrote to Julian Assange's lawyer saying that Australia would not seek to involve itself in any international exchanges about Julian Assange's future.

Julian Assange's lawyers described the letter as a "declaration of abandonment".

WikiLeaks insiders stated that Julian Assange decided to seek asylum because he felt abandoned by the Australian government.

Documents released that month showed that Australia had no objection to a potential extradition to the US, and a spokesman for Foreign Minister Bob Carr said that Julian Assange refused an offer for consular assistance.

Julian Assange said the grounding "reveals the true nature of the relationship between Western Europe and the United States" as "a phone call from US intelligence was enough to close the airspace to a booked presidential flight, which has immunity".

Julian Assange advised Snowden that he would be safest in Russia which was better able to protect its borders than Venezuela, Brazil, or Ecuador.

In 2015, Maria Luisa Ramos, the Bolivian ambassador to Russia, accused Julian Assange of putting Morales' life at risk.

Julian Assange stood for the Australian Senate in Victoria in the 2013 Australian federal election and launched the WikiLeaks Party after announcing his candidacy but failed to win a seat.

Julian Assange said that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's attacks on WikiLeaks contributed to his decision to run for the Senate, and that if he won the seat the US would end the grand jury investigation against him and the British government would follow suit because of "the political costs".

Julian Assange's statement was interpreted to indicate that had been one of Julian Assange's major aims in launching his Senate campaign.

Julian Assange said he could be described as a libertarian, and that he would use parliamentary privilege to overcome court-imposed gag orders.

Julian Assange said it was important to protect people and small businesses from large corporations and government, and that there were "strong arguments on all sides" of issues like euthanasia and same-sex marriage.

Julian Assange suggested that he was entitled to make himself the president of the party because he had founded it, although there is no leader or president under the WikiLeaks Party constitution.

Julian Assange said he would stand for the 2014 special election in Western Australia, but the Australian Electoral Commission ruled Julian Assange was ineligible.

On 15 September 2014 while campaigning for Kim Dotcom, Julian Assange appeared via remote video link on his town hall meeting held in Auckland, which discussed the programme.

Julian Assange said the Snowden documents showed that he had been a target of the programme and that "Operation Speargun" represented "an extreme, bizarre, Orwellian future that is being constructed secretly in New Zealand".

In 2014 the company hired to monitor Julian Assange warned Ecuador's government that he was "intercepting and gathering information from the embassy and the people who worked there" and that he had compromised the embassy's communications system, which WikiLeaks called "an anonymous libel aligned with the current UK-US government onslaught against Mr Julian Assange".

In September 2016 and again on 12 January 2017, WikiLeaks tweeted that if President Obama granted Chelsea Manning clemency, Julian Assange would agree to US extradition.

Julian Assange said the decision to grant Manning clemency was an attempt to "make life hard" for Julian Assange and make him look like a liar.

One of WikiLeaks' lawyers, Melinda Taylor, said Julian Assange would stand by the offer, and WikiLeaks tweets suggested he was ready for extradition and Julian Assange said "I stand by everything I said including the offer to go to the United States if Chelsea Manning's sentence was commuted".

Julian Assange faced pressure to agree to extradition, but retreated from the offer.

Julian Assange received several visitors during his stay, among them Pamela Anderson who wrote:.

Julian Assange looked forward to the vegan meals I'd bring him, and he was intrigued by my perspective on global issues.

Julian Assange rejected the request and the Daily Beast reported that he replied he preferred to do the work on his own.

The New York Times wrote that Julian Assange had timed the release to coincide with the 2016 Democratic National Convention because he believed Clinton had pushed for his indictment and he regarded her as a "liberal war hawk".

In interviews, Julian Assange repeatedly said that the Russian government was not the source of the DNC and Podesta emails, and accused the Clinton campaign of "a kind of neo-McCarthy hysteria" about Russian involvement.

Julian Assange responded "The head of the CIA determining who is a publisher, who's not a publisher, who's a journalist, who's not a journalist, is totally out of line".

In October 2021, Julian Assange's lawyers introduced the alleged plot during a hearing of the High Court of Justice in London as it considered the US appeal of a lower court's ruling that Julian Assange could not be extradited to face charges in the US In 2022 the Spanish courts summoned Pompeo as a witness to testify on the alleged plans.

On 6 June 2017 Julian Assange supported NSA leaker Reality Winner, who had been arrested three days earlier, by tweeting "Acts of non-elite sources communicating knowledge should be strongly encouraged".

On 16 August 2017, US Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher visited Julian Assange and told him that Trump would pardon him on condition that he would agree to say that Russia was not involved in the 2016 Democratic National Committee email leaks.

In late August 2017 Julian Assange became involved in the Catalonia independence movement.

Julian Assange disseminated messages and disinformation supporting the movement and he was forced to delete several fake or misleading images he had shared on Twitter.

In November 2017, Julian Assange met with two key supporters of the independence movement, Oriol Soler and Arnau Grinyo, which caused backlash from the Spanish government.

The Spanish government said that Julian Assange was spreading information that was "at odds with reality" and the Ecuadorian government warned Julian Assange against commenting on other countries' policies.

In December 2017 Spanish foreign minister Alfonso Dastis said Julian Assange was "trying to interfere and manipulate" in Catalonia.

Julian Assange stated that, while he did not have a position on the outcome of the Catalan independence referendum, he believed that Catalans had the right to self-determination.

In January 2018 Sean Hannity's Twitter account was temporarily deleted and Julian Assange sent an account impersonating the Fox News host messages offering "news" on Mark Warner, a senior Democrat senator investigating Trump-Russia links.

Julian Assange asked the fake Hannity to contact him about it on "other channels".

In February 2018, after Sweden had suspended its investigation, Julian Assange brought two legal actions, arguing that Britain should drop its arrest warrant for him as it was "no longer right or proportionate to pursue him" and the arrest warrant for breaching bail had lost its "purpose and its function".

In March 2018 Julian Assange used social media to criticise Germany's arrest of Catalonian separatist leader Carles Puigdemont.

Julian Assange tweeted that Britain was about to conduct a propaganda war against Russia relating to the poisoning of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

Ecuador said he had broken a commitment "not to issue messages that might interfere with other states" and Julian Assange said he was "exercising his right to free speech".

In May 2018, The Guardian reported that Ecuador devised plans to help Julian Assange escape should British police forcibly enter the embassy to seize him.

On 19 October 2018 Julian Assange sued the government of Ecuador for violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms" by threatening to remove his protection and cut off his access to the outside world, refusing him visits from journalists and human rights organisations and installing signal jammers to prevent phone calls and internet access.

An Ecuadorian judge ruled against him, saying that requiring Julian Assange to pay for his Internet use and clean up after his cat did not violate his right to asylum.

On 21 December 2018 the UN's Working Group on Arbitrary Detention urged the UK to let Julian Assange leave the embassy freely.

In March 2019, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights rejected a complaint submitted by Julian Assange asking the Ecuadorian government to "ease the conditions that it had imposed on his residence" at the embassy and to protect him from extradition to the US.

In 2022, four associates of Julian Assange filed a lawsuit against the CIA alleging their civil rights were violated when they were recorded as part of the surveillance of Julian Assange.

On 25 June 2020 a new indictment was filed alleging that since 2009, Julian Assange had attempted to recruit hackers and system administrators at conferences around the world and conspired with hackers including members of LulzSec and Anonymous.

The new indictment described Julian Assange's alleged efforts to recruit system administrators, Julian Assange and WikiLeaks' role in helping Snowden flee the US, and their use of Snowden as a recruitment tool, and WikiLeaks' exploiting a vulnerability in the United States Congress' system to access and publish the Congressional Research Service reports.

Julian Assange's defenders have responded to US accusations, describing him as a journalist who did nothing more than publish leaked information that embarrassed the US government.

On 13 September 2019 District Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Julian Assange would not be released on 22 September when his prison term ended because he was a flight risk and his lawyers had not applied for bail.

Julian Assange said when his sentence came to an end, his status would change from a serving prisoner to a person facing extradition.

On 1 November 2019 Melzer said that Julian Assange's health had continued to deteriorate and his life was now at risk.

Julian Assange said that the UK government had not acted on the issue.

On 17 February 2020 Australian MPs Andrew Wilkie and George Christensen visited Julian Assange and pressed the UK and Australian governments to intervene and stop him from being extradited.

Julian Assange said Assange's past conduct showed how far he was willing to go to avoid extradition.

Julian Assange was confined to his cell at HM Prison Belmarsh for 23 hours per day and given one hour of recreation per day conducted inside.

Julian Assange told Glass that he had accumulated two hundred and thirty-two books while in Belmarsh.

On 21 October 2019 Julian Assange appeared for a case management hearing at the court.

Julian Assange's lawyers contended that he had been charged with political offences and therefore could not be extradited.

Julian Assange appeared in court on 7 September 2020, facing the espionage indictment with 18 counts.

Patrick Eller, a former forensics examiner with the US Army Criminal Investigation Command, testified that Julian Assange did not crack and could not have cracked the password mentioned in the US indictment, as Chelsea Manning had intentionally sent only a portion of the password's hash.

Julian Assange sided with the US on every other point, including whether the charges constituted political offences and whether he was entitled to freedom of speech protections.

On 6 January 2021 Julian Assange was denied bail on the grounds that he was a flight risk, pending an appeal by the United States.

On 24 January 2022 Julian Assange was granted permission to petition the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom for an appeal hearing, but in March the court refused to allow the appeal, saying that Julian Assange had not raised an arguable point of law.

On 1 July 2022 Julian Assange lodged an appeal against the extradition in the High Court.

Julian Assange made a further appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, but on 13 December 2022, this appeal was declared inadmissible.

The EFJ was concerned about the impact of Julian Assange's continued detention on media freedom and the rights of all journalists globally and urged European governments to work to secure Julian Assange's release.

In May 2023 Julian Assange wrote a letter to King Charles III saying he was a political prisoner and requesting the King visit him in prison.

In May 2023, Julian Assange's lawyers said they were open to a plea deal but that "no crime has been committed and the facts involved in the case don't support a crime".

In June 2023, Stella Julian Assange was received at the Vatican by Pope Francis to discuss the modalities of her husband's release from Belmarsh prison.

The pope himself writes to Julian Assange offering to give him asylum in the Vatican State.

In 2022 the incoming Australian Labor government of Anthony Albanese indicated that it opposed the continued prosecution of Julian Assange but intended to pursue quiet diplomacy to prevent it.

In July 2023, US secretary of state Antony Blinken rejected the Australian government's position, saying that Julian Assange faced serious charges.

On 20 May 2024 the UK High Court ruled Julian Assange could bring a full appeal to his extradition, which put pressure on the DOJ to finally complete a plea deal they had already been signalling their willingness for.

On 24 June 2024 a plea bargain was agreed, in which Julian Assange would plead guilty to one felony count of violating the Espionage Act in exchange for immediate release.

Julian Assange pleaded guilty to a charge under the Espionage Act of conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information.

On disembarking, Julian Assange was greeted by his wife Stella and father John Shipton.

Julian Assange was required by the Australian government to repay the costs of the charter flight as he was not permitted to fly on commercial airlines.

On 1 October 2024, Julian Assange flew to Strasbourg, France, and addressed the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Council of Europe.

Julian Assange said he had pleaded guilty to journalism and had chosen freedom over justice.

On 2 May 2025, Julian Assange released a public statement endorsing Albanese for the 2025 Australian federal election.

Julian Assange is a strong advocate for the use of encryption which he says should be used by individuals to protect themselves against the intrusions of governments, corporations and surveillance agencies and by states to protect themselves against Western imperialism.

In 2010 Julian Assange said he was a libertarian and that "WikiLeaks is designed to make capitalism more free and ethical" and to expose injustice, not to be neutral.

In 2013, Julian Assange said that he is the "number three" hacker in the world.

In 2017, Julian Assange said WikiLeaks had a perfect record and that only 2 per cent of mainstream journalists were "credible".

In 2012 Julian Assange hosted the World Tomorrow show, broadcast by Russian network RT.

Julian Assange received a co-writer credit for the Calle 13 song "Multi Viral".

Julian Assange produced the following films: Collateral Murder, Mediastan, and The Engineer.

Julian Assange acted as himself in the episode "At Long Last Leave" of The Simpsons.

In 2010 Julian Assange received a deal for his autobiography worth at least US$1.3million.

Julian Assange immediately disavowed it and accused Canongate of breaching their contract by publishing, against his wishes, a draft that Julian Assange considered "a narrative and literary interpretation of a conversation between the writer and me".

In 2011 an article in Private Eye by its editor, Ian Hislop, recounted a phone call he had received from Julian Assange, who was angry about Private Eye report that Israel Shamir, an Julian Assange associate in Russia, was a Holocaust denier.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg said in his 2011 memoir Inside WikiLeaks that Julian Assange said he had fathered several children.

In 2015, in an open letter to French President Hollande, Julian Assange revealed he had another child.

Julian Assange said that this child, his youngest, was French, as was the child's mother.

Julian Assange said his family had faced death threats and harassment because of his work, forcing them to change identities and reduce contact with him.

In 2015 Julian Assange began a relationship with Stella Julian Assange, one of his lawyers.

Julian Assange is the cousin of Australian-British academic and former Iranian hostage Kylie Moore-Gilbert.

Views on Julian Assange have been given by a number of public figures, including journalists, well-known whistleblowers, activists and world leaders.