Difference between revisions of "Julian Assange"

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|image=Julian_Assange.jpg
 
|image=Julian_Assange.jpg
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
 
|wikipedia=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
|ON_constitutes=hacktivist, whistleblower
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|ON_constitutes=Hacktivist, Whistleblower, criminal
|description=A "[[hacktivist]]" of mysterious background, whose website, [[Wikileaks]], has been the conduit for a lot of [[whistleblowing]]. His opinion on [[9/11]] is particularly notable.
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|description=A "[[hacktivist]]" of mysterious background, whose website, [[Wikileaks]], has been the conduit for a lot of [[whistleblowing]]. His pronounced ''dis''interest in [[9/11]] is particularly notable.
 
|alma_mater=Central Queensland University, University of Melbourne
 
|alma_mater=Central Queensland University, University of Melbourne
 
|nationality=Australian
 
|nationality=Australian
|constitutes=Publisher, spook?
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|constitutes=Publisher, Hacker?, Spook?
 
|parents=Christine Assange, John Shipton
 
|parents=Christine Assange, John Shipton
 
|historycommons=http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=julian_assange_1
 
|historycommons=http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=julian_assange_1
 
|sourcewatch=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Julian_Assange
 
|sourcewatch=http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Julian_Assange
 
|wikiquote=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
 
|wikiquote=http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Julian_Assange
|spouses=Teresa Doe
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|spouses=Teresa Doe, (1989–1999), Sarah Harrison, (2009–2012), Stella Moris-Smith Robertson, (2015–present)
 
|birth_name=Julian Paul Hawkins
 
|birth_name=Julian Paul Hawkins
 
|political_parties=Independent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
 
|political_parties=Independent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
|children=4
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|children=Gabriel, Max
 
|keywiki=http://www.keywiki.org/Julian_Assange
 
|keywiki=http://www.keywiki.org/Julian_Assange
 
|employment={{job
 
|employment={{job
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|interests=wikileaks, whistleblower, CIA, NSA
 
|title=Editor-in-Chief
 
|title=Editor-in-Chief
 
|employer=WikiLeaks
 
|employer=WikiLeaks
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|end=23 July 2015}}
 
|end=23 July 2015}}
 
}}
 
}}
'''Julian Assange''', née  '''Julian Paul Hawkins''', is an [[Australian]] programmer. In 2006 he founded of [[Wikileaks]].
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'''Julian Assange''', born '''Julian Paul Hawkins''', is an [[Australian]] programmer and [[Internet]] [[activist]]. In [[2006]] he founded [[Wikileaks]]. Facing arrest, Assange took refuge in June [[2012]] in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) reported he was being "arbitrarily detained". He was arrested in April 2019 and imprisoned in [[Belmarsh]]. In May [[2019]] allegations surfaced that he was being chemically tortured.<ref>''[[Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug]]''</ref><ref>https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen-kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ saved at [https://web.archive.org/web/20190507080230/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen-kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ Archive.org] saved at [https://archive.is/WT3rm Archive.is]</ref><ref>https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/09/karen-kwiatkowski/why-is-julian-assange-being-tortured-to-death/ saved at [https://web.archive.org/web/20190918010425/https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/09/karen-kwiatkowski/why-is-julian-assange-being-tortured-to-death/ Archive.org] saved at [https://archive.is/UeVwT Archive.is]</ref>
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[[Craig Murray]] observed at the time that:
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{{SMWQ
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|text=[...] the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.
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|authors=Craig Murray
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|source_URL=https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/05/the-unrelenting-state/comment-page-1/
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|date=31 May 2019
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|subjects=
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}}
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In June 2024, Assange was released on bail after an agreement to a [[plea deal]] to admit violating the US [[Espionage Act]].<ref>https://www.reuters.com/world/us/wikileaks-assange-expected-plead-guilty-us-espionage-charge-document-says-2024-06-24/</ref> Assange made his first public statement after his release at the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the [[Council of Europe]] on 1 October 2024.<ref>''[[Document:Julian Assange makes first public statement since prison release]]''</ref>
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==Background==
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Julian Assange was born in [[Australia]] to [[Christine Assange|Christine Ann Hawkins]], a visual artist, and [[John Shipton]], an anti-war activist and builder, who separated before their son was born. His mother married Richard Brett Assange when Julian was a year old. Assange had a nomadic childhood, and had lived in over thirty Australian towns and cities by the time he reached his mid-teens, when he settled with his mother and half-brother in Melbourne, Victoria. His mother "became involved with Leif Meynell, also known as Leif Hamilton, a member of Australian [[cult]] The Family, with whom she had a son before the couple broke up in [[1982]]."<ref>https://gawker.com/5551790/the-strange-upbringing-of-wikileaks-founder-jullian-assange</ref>
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==Career==
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===Hacking===
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Julian Assange’s hacker alias, which he used from the age of 16, was ''Mendax'',<ref name=nowhere/> (Latin for "lying").<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mendax#Latin</ref>
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In 1986, he managed to hack into the Minerva system of mainframes operated by [[Australia]]'s Overseas Telecommunications Commission in Sydney, as the entrance test into the [[Australia]]n hacker community:<ref>''[https://web.archive.org/web/20220105203305/https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/wikileaks/wikileaks-gruender-assange-ein-superstar-der-sichtbarkeit-11079754.html?printPagedArticle=true "A visibility superstar"]''</ref>{{QB|Assange was determined to access Minerva, both for bragging rights and to exploit the mainframes' capabilities to run scanning and cracking programs or other netherworld adventures. But he needed a password.
  
On 28 November 2016, Julian Assange said:
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And the only way he knew to get one was through what hackers call "[[social engineering]]", simply calling up a human being and conning him or her into divulging secrets.
:“Today, marking the six-year anniversary of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_diplomatic_cables_leak Cablegate,] [[WikiLeaks]] expands its [https://our.wikileaks.org/Public_Library_of_U.S._Diplomacy Public Library of US Diplomacy] (PLUSD) with more than half a million (531,525) diplomatic cables from 1979. If any year could be said to be the ‘year zero’ of our modern era, 1979 is it. (…) In 1979 it seemed as if the blood would never stop. Dozens of countries saw assassinations, coups, revolts, bombings, political kidnappings and wars of liberation.”
 
This, in turn, he said led to the [[9/11]] terror strikes, the invasion of [[Afghanistan]] and [[Iraq]] by the [[US]], and the creation of [[ISIS]].<ref>''[https://gosint.wordpress.com/2018/12/02/two-years-ago-julian-assange-1979-is-year-zero-of-our-modern-era/ "Julian Assange: '1979 Is Year Zero of Our Modern Era'”]''</ref>
 
  
==Background==
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Hence the noisy layers of Shakespearean tragedy that the altogether sane young man was producing. Assange's sound show was for the benefit of his cassette recorder, the better to simulate the background chaos of a busy office. A few minutes later, he had found a valid number within an OTC branch office in Perth. And using his uncannily deep sixteen-year-old's voice while the noise-tape played behind him, he became "John Teller", a trustworthy operator in the Sydney office trying to check a few data points corrupted by a crashed storage drive.
Julian Assange was born in [[Australia]] to [[Christine Assange|Christine Ann Hawkins]], a visual artist, and [[John Shipton]], an anti-war activist and builder, who separated before their son was born. His mother married Richard Brett Assange when Julian was a year old. Assange had a nomadic childhood, and had lived in over thirty Australian towns and cities by the time he reached his mid-teens, when he settled with his mother and half-brother in Melbourne, Victoria. His mother "became involved with Leif Meynell, also known as Leif Hamilton, a member of Australian cult The Family, with whom she had a son before the couple broke up in 1982." Assange’s hacker alias, which he used from the age of 16, was ''Mendax''<ref name=nowhere/>, (Latin for "lying").<ref>https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mendax#Latin</ref>
 
  
==Hacking==
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He dialled and a man picked up. Assange introduced himself and began the game. "The back up tape is two days old, so we want to check your information is up-to-date so your service is not interrupted," he casually told the man who answered, not missing a beat.
Assange was arrested for hacking in 1991, in 1996 he plead guilty and was sentenced leniently in light of his disrupted childhood<ref name=nowhere>https://nowhere.news/index.php/2019/04/14/reasons-not-to-take-the-julian-assange-story-at-face-value/</ref>
 
  
==Ecuadorian embassy siege==
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"Oh dear. Yes. Let's check it," Assange's mark responded in a concerned tone. Assange read out a list of easily accessible information for Minerva staff users that he had downloaded, carefully inserting an error into one user's fax number. The voice on the other end interrupted helpfully: "Oh no, that's wrong, our fax number is definitely wrong," he said.
In June 2012 Julian Assange took refuge in the [[Ecuador]]ian embassy in London to avoid extradition to [[Sweden]] over sex assault claims, which he denies.<ref>''[http://thestandard.org.nz/marianne-ny-making-an-arse-of-swedish-law/ "Marianne Ny: Making an arse of Swedish law"]''</ref> Assange was effectively imprisoned in the Ecuadorian embassy as a result of [[establishment]] allegations of sexual offences. He is under a siege by the [[Metropolitan Police]] which has cost over £10million.<ref>''[https://wikileaks.org/Sweden-Tells-the-UN-that.html "Sweden Tells the UN that Indefinite Detention Without Charge is Fine"]''</ref> On 13 March 2015, it was reported that Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny had asked for Julian Assange to be interviewed in London about the rape and sexual assault allegations, despite previously insisting talks should be held in Stockholm. Assange's lawyer Per Samuelsson said:
 
:"I have spoken to him early this morning - I think I even woke him up - and he said 'this is a great victory for me' in the case. But simultaneously he was irritated that it took so long for the prosecutor to do her job properly...there is a mixture of feelings."<ref>''[http://www.thelocal.se/20150313/swedish-prosecutor-asks-to-quiz-assange-in-london "Swedish prosecutors to quiz Assange in London"]''</ref>
 
  
In 2014, Julian Assange complained to the [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) that he was being "arbitrarily detained" as he could not leave the embassy without being arrested.<ref>''[http://www.itv.com/news/2016-02-05/julian-assange-case-who-is-on-the-uns-expert-panel/ "Julian Assange case: Who is on the UN's expert panel?"]''</ref> The panel of legal experts, which has taken evidence from the UK and Sweden, was due to announce the findings of its investigation into the case on 5 February 2016 but the [[BBC]] leaked the result a day early under the headline "UN panel 'rules in Julian Assange's favour'".<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35490910 "UN panel 'rules in Julian Assange's favour'"]</ref> Commenting for the first time on the [[UNWGAD]] panel's ruling, Swedish prosecutor [[Marianne Ny]] said on 9 February 2016 she was "currently working on a renewed request to interview Julian Assange at Ecuador's embassy in London".<ref>''[http://www.thelocal.se/20160209/swedish-prosecutor-wont-drop-assange-probe "Will Swedish prosecutors question Assange in London?"]''</ref>
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So Assange tried to match his victim's worried tone and explained that they would need to confirm all the user's information. "Let's see. We have your account number, but we had better check your password...what was it?"
  
===Tweets===
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"Yes, it's L-U-R-C-H–full stop." Lurch. Assange was in. He politely ended the conversation, gave his target a call back number that rang eternally busy, and hung up, victorious in the greatest hack of his young life.<ref>''[https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13586738-this-machine-kills-secrets "This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information"]''</ref>}}
On 4 February 2016, Julian Assange tweeted:
 
:"Should the UN announce tomorrow that I have lost my case against the United Kingdom and Sweden I shall exit the embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal. However, should I prevail and the state parties be found to have acted unlawfully, I expect the immediate return of my passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest me. Julian Assange, Embassy of Ecuador, London (https://justice4assange.com/)."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/695084493825273856 "Assange: I will accept arrest by British police on Friday if UN rules against me"]'' More info: https://justice4assange.com</ref>  
 
  
On 6 October 2017, Assange tweeted:
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Julian Assange was caught after a police raid in 1991, and charged in 1994 “with thirty-one counts of hacking and related crimes. In December 1996, he pleaded guilty to twenty-five charges (the other six were dropped), and was ordered to pay reparations of A$2,100 and released on a good behaviour bond. The perceived absence of malicious or mercenary intent and his disrupted childhood were cited to justify his lenient penalty.<ref name=nowhere>''[https://nowhere.news/index.php/2019/04/14/reasons-not-to-take-the-julian-assange-story-at-face-value/ "Reasons not to take the Julian Assange story at face value"]''</ref>
:"The [[Nobel Peace Prize]] has finally been awarded to a group that fits the criteria: the [[International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons]].<ref>''[https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/916238191941898240 "The Nobel Peace prize has finally been awarded to a group that fits the criteria: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons"]''</ref>
 
  
On 12 February 2018, he tweeted:
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===Books===
:My arrest warrant judgment is tomorrow 2pm (Feb 13), Westminster Magistrates Court, London.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/962996567576899584 "My arrest warrant judgment is tomorrow 2pm (Feb 13), Westminster Magistrates Court, London"]''</ref>
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Julian Assange is the author of [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16153182-cypherpunks "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet", published in November 2012:]{{QB|The harassment of [[WikiLeaks]] and other [[Internet]] activists, together with attempts to introduce anti-file sharing legislation such as SOPA and ACTA, indicate that the politics of the [[Internet]] have reached a crossroads. In one direction lies a future that guarantees, in the watchwords of the cypherpunks, "privacy for the weak and transparency for the powerful"; in the other lies an [[Internet]] that allows government and large corporations to discover ever more about internet users while hiding their own activities. Assange and his co-discussants unpick the complex issues surrounding this crucial choice with clarity and engaging enthusiasm.<ref>''[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16153182-cypherpunks "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet"]''</ref>}}
  
And on 13 February 2018, he tweeted:
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He is co-author with Suelette Dreyfus of [https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615952.Underground "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier"], published 1997, which {{QB|tells the extraordinary true story of the computer underground, and the bizarre lives and crimes of an elite ring of international hackers who took on the [[establishment]]. Spanning three continents and a decade of high level infiltration, they created chaos amongst some of the world's biggest and most powerful organisations, including [[NASA]] and the [[US military]]. Brilliant and obsessed, many of them found themselves addicted to hacking and phreaking. Some descended into drugs and madness, others ended up in jail. As riveting as the finest detective novel and meticulously researched, "Underground" follows the hackers through their crimes, their betrayals, the hunt, raids and investigations. It is a gripping tale of the digital underground.<ref>''[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/615952.Underground "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier"]''</ref>}}
:[[Emma Arbuthnot|Judge]] refuses to withdraw Julian Assange arrest warrant.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/JulianAssange/status/963422943094214656 "Judge refuses to withdraw Julian Assange arrest warrant"]''</ref>
 
  
==="Free Julian Assange"===
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===Nobel Peace Prize nomination===
On 1 March 2016, Britain and Sweden were called upon to respect the [[UNWGAD]] decision and free Julian Assange. The following statement, signed by more than 500 high profile signatories from more than 60 countries including [[William Blum]], [[Noam Chomsky]], [[John Goss]], [[Craig Murray]] and [[John Pilger]], was delivered to the Swedish and UK Permanent Representatives to the [[United Nations]] in Geneva:
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On 27 January 2022, ''[https://www.uniindia.com United News of India]'' reported that Julian Assange should be nominated for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]].<ref>''[https://www.uniindia.com/story/Assange-should-be-nominated-for-Nobel-Peace-Prize---Fiancee "Assange should be nominated for Nobel Peace Prize - Fiancee"]''</ref>
:“We the undersigned, including legal and human rights organisations, academics, and policymakers condemn the reactions of the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom to the finding by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Julian Assange is arbitrarily detained.
 
  
:"The governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom are setting a dangerous precedent that undermines the United Nations Human Rights system as a whole. We urge Sweden and the United Kingdom to respect the binding nature of the human rights covenants on which the decision is based, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; as well as the independence, integrity and authority of the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
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[[Stella Moris]] tweeted: "[[Nobel Peace Prize]] nomination deadline is 31 January 2022. Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/StellaMoris1/status/1353021466045018113 "Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom"]''</ref>
  
:"We therefore call on the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom to comply without further delay with the Working Group’s findings and 'ensure the right of free movement of Mr. Assange and accord him an enforceable right to compensation, in accordance with article 9(5) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights'.<ref>''[http://diem25.org/urging-sweden-and-the-uk-to-free-julian-assange/ "Urging Sweden and the UK to free Julian Assange"]''</ref>
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[[Czech Republic]]'s [https://www.facebook.com/MEPGregorova/ Markéta Gregorová MEP responded:] "Hi Stella, I will be nominating Julian for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], as a [[Member of the European Parliament]]. I plan on doing so tomorrow (28 January 2022), we are wrapping up the nomination text right now. I would be happy to coordinate together!"<ref>''[https://twitter.com/MarketkaG/status/1486744242559098892 "I will be nominating Julian for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a Member of the European Parliament"]''</ref>
  
===Indictment unsealed===
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===Extradition Appeal dismissed===
On 16 November 2018, various [[corporate media]] revealed that [[US]] prosecutors were preparing to pursue a criminal case against [[Wikileaks]] founder Julian Assange. Most experts believe that the notion that federal criminal charges could be brought based on the publication of truthful information is an incredibly dangerous precedent to set.
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On 8 June 2023, [[Craig Murray]] tweeted:{{QB|
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:After ten months, Julian Assange's appeal against extradition is dismissed with no hearing in just three pages of A4 - by Sir [[Jonathan Swift]], the same right wing judge who ruled deportation of asylum seekers to [[Rwanda]] was legal.<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1666882495613108233 "After ten months, Julian Assange's appeal against extradition is dismissed with no hearing in just three pages of A4"]''</ref>}}
  
On Thursday 11th April 2019, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unsealed a March 6, 2018 indictment charging Julian Assange, the founder head of [[WikiLeaks]], for conspiring to commit computer intrusions by assisting [[Chelsea Manning]] with breaking a US government password. The [[Grand Jury]] charged violations of 18 U.S.C. §§371, 1030(a)(1), 1030(a)(2) and 1030(c)(2)(B)(ii). A [[US Justice Department]] statement confirmed press reports that Assange was arrested in the [[United Kingdom]] on Thursday morning under the [[US]]/[[UK]] extradition agreement.<ref>''[https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-julian-assange-indictment "Document: Julian Assange Indictment"]''</ref> The full indictment is [https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5816933/Assange-Indictment.pdf here.]<ref>''[https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5816933/Assange-Indictment.pdf "United States of America v Julian Paul Assange"]''</ref>
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===Free after twelve years===
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{{FA|Julian Assange/Imprisonment}}
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
{{YouTubeVideo
|code=stTMt1tLT4g
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|code=AMRuo3rMLPo
 
|align=right
 
|align=right
 
|width=300px
 
|width=300px
|caption=[[Metropolitan Police]] arrest Julian Assange
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|caption=Assange is back in [[Australia]] a free man
 
}}
 
}}
===Assange arrested===
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[[File:Assange_Free.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Free after twelve years detention in the [[UK]] ]]
On 11 April 2019, [[Craig Murray]] tweeted:
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In June 2012, Julian Assange took refuge in the [[Ecuador]]ian embassy in London to avoid extradition to [[Sweden]] over sex assault claims, which he denied.<ref>''[http://thestandard.org.nz/marianne-ny-making-an-arse-of-swedish-law/ "Marianne Ny: Making an arse of Swedish law"]''</ref> For the next seven years, Assange was effectively imprisoned in the Ecuadorian embassy as a result of those [[establishment]] allegations of sexual offences.
:"Have to head back to London to help in light of Ecuadorian betrayal and Julian's sad arrest. The fight is now on whether a journalist should be imprisoned for publishing documents from a [[whistleblower]] on [[war crimes]]."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg/status/1116289974725414912 "Julian Assange arrested"]''</ref>
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In April 2019, Assange was arrested at the embassy and appeared at [[Westminster Magistrates' Court]] where District Judge [[Michael Snow]] remanded him to [[Belmarsh Prison]] until 2 May 2019,<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/08/julian-assange-supporters-ordered-forfeit-bail "Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money"]''</ref> when he was sentenced by Judge [https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/biography/her-honour-judge-deborah-taylor Deborah Taylor] at Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/01/julian-assange-jailed-for-50-weeks-for-breaching-bail-in-2012 "Julian Assange legal team begin 'big fight' over extradition"]''</ref>
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On 24 June 2024, after spending 62 months in [[Belmarsh Prison]], Julian Assange was released on bail to appear the following day in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Court_for_the_Northern_Mariana_Islands court at Saipan, in the US Pacific territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.]<ref>''[[Document:The Happiest of Days]]''</ref> On 25 June 2024, under the terms of a [[plea deal]] with the [[US/DOJ]], Assange pleaded guilty to a felony charge under the US [[Espionage Act]] of “conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the [[United States]].”<ref>''[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/25/julian-assange-freed-whats-the-deal-the-wikileaks-founder-struck-with-us "What is Julian Assange’s plea deal?"]''</ref> US District Judge Ramona Manglona sentenced him to five years and two months – the time he'd spent imprisoned in the [[United Kingdom]] fighting extradition to the [[US]] – and said he was free to go.<ref>''[https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/6/25/wikileaks-julian-assange-lands-in-saipan-for-us-plea-deal-court-hearing "WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange declared ‘free man’ in Saipan after US plea deal"]''</ref>
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On 26 June 2024, [[Stella Assange]] posted on '''[[X]]''':{{QB|
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:"Julian walks out of Saipan federal court a free man. I can’t stop crying. #AssangeFree"<ref>''[https://x.com/Stella_Assange/status/1805799041558888555 "Julian walks out of Saipan federal court a free man. I can’t stop crying. #AssangeFree"]''</ref>}}
  
[[Wikileaks]] tweeted:
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==Wikileaks==
:"[[Ecuador]] has illegally terminated Assange political asylum in violation of international law. He was arrested by the British police inside the Ecuadorian embassy minutes ago."<ref>''[https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1116273826621480960 "Ecuador has illegally terminated Assange political asylum"]''</ref>
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{{FA|Wikileaks}}
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[[image:WL Hour Glass.png|left|99px]]
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[[image:J Assange Economist New Media Award 2008.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Assange receiving the [[The Economist|Economist]] New Media Award at an Index on Censorship event in 2008,<ref>https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2008/03/awards-2008/</ref> the same year as the [[Julius Bär]] leak.<ref>https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2017/12/23/one-mans-fight-against-the-swiss-offshore-banking-system</ref>]]
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In 2006, Assange set up [[Wikileaks]], a website intended to publish leaked information. This has published a ''lot'' of information.
  
Publishing a video of the arrest, [[RT]] reported:
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After [[Wikileaks]] was becoming too much of a problem, a report leaked out of secret cabinet meeting where [[Hilary Clinton]] questioned why Assange couldn't be assassinated by [[drone]] around [[2016]]. The statement drew laughter from the other cabinet members, after which Clinton doubled down and called Assange a "soft target", "just walking around thumbing his nose" without any fear for the [[US]].<ref>https://t.co/S7tPrl2QCZ</ref>
:"[[WikiLeaks]] founder Julian Assange has been evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last six years. [[Ecuador]]'s president [[Lenin Moreno]] has announced that the country has withdrawn asylum from Assange."<ref>''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=stTMt1tLT4g "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been evicted from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where he has spent the last six years"]''</ref>
 
  
==Banged up in Belmarsh==
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==Views on 9/11==
On the day of his arrest, Assange appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court where District Judge [[Michael Snow]] remanded him to [[Belmarsh Prison]] until 2 May 2019,<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/08/julian-assange-supporters-ordered-forfeit-bail "Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money"]''</ref> when he was sentenced by Judge [https://www.counselmagazine.co.uk/biography/her-honour-judge-deborah-taylor Deborah Taylor] at Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/01/julian-assange-jailed-for-50-weeks-for-breaching-bail-in-2012 "Julian Assange legal team begin 'big fight' over extradition"]''</ref>
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{{FA|9-11}}
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Since his organisation, [[Wikileaks]], focuses on releasing information to the public that is intended to show government wrongdoing, his view on [[9-11]] is particularly notable: 
 +
{{SMWQ
 +
|text=I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by [[false conspiracies]] such as [[9-11| 9/11]], when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for [[war]] or mass [[financial fraud]].
 +
|authors=Julian Assange
 +
|source_URL=http://web.archive.org/web/20100720202218/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html
 +
|date=19 July 2010
 +
|subjects=9-11, 9-11/Official narrative
 +
|note=By 2019, the [http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html original Belfast Telegraph page] was changed to hide the 9-11 quote to anyone who had not logged in. The citation uses an archived version.
 +
}}
 +
[[Webster Tarpley]] is highly critical for his public support for the [[9-11/Official narrative]] and describes [[Wikileaks]] as a "[[modified limited hangout]]".<ref>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/515</ref>
 +
It is thinkable that he made the point (even if he wasn't pressed to do so) to make Wikileaks more acceptable to decisionmakers in the {{ccm}}, at a time when he (still) had to focus on relationship building.
  
The [[UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention]] (UNWGAD) said it was deeply concerned by the “disproportionate sentence” imposed on Assange for violating the terms of his bail, which it described as a “minor violation”:
+
However, on April 20, 2019 [[Caitlin Johnstone]] disputes claim Assange is a CIA intelligence asset-limited hangout: "Debunking All the Assange Smears"<ref>https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/04/20/debunking-all-the-assange-smears/</ref> pointing out how can he possibly be a "CIA asset-limited hangout" and be imprisoned in Belmarsh, awaiting extradition to the U.S.? Note that Webster Tarpley stated Wikileaks is a modified limited hangout and not directly Julian Assange.
:“The working group is further concerned that Mr Assange has been detained since 11 April 2019 in [[Belmarsh Prison]], a high-security prison, as if he were convicted for a serious criminal offence. This treatment appears to contravene the principles of necessity and proportionality envisaged by the [[human rights]] standards.
 
  
:“[[UNWGAD]] reiterates its recommendation to the government of the [[United Kingdom]], as expressed in its opinion 54/2015, and its 21 December 2018 statement, that the right of Mr Assange to personal liberty should be restored.<ref>''[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2019/may/03/un-calls-for-julian-assanges-release-from-high-security-uk-jail "UN calls for Julian Assange's release from UK high-security jail"]''</ref>
+
Brendon O'Connell offers an alternative explanation on Jan 5, 2022, Episode 90: "Assange, Snowden Russia And Israel"- The Great Game.<ref>https://youtu.be/Nn98EauQC98</ref> According to O'Connell, Assange worked for KGB and Russian security services as an asset, offering a video history of his hacking, before Wikileaks.
  
==Views On September 11th==
 
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
{{YouTubeVideo
 
|code=XPMC_IVJDNo
 
|code=XPMC_IVJDNo
|align=left
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|align=right
|width=300px
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|width=360px
 
|caption="Following [[9-11|9/11]], the [[CIA]] paved the way for the creation of [[ISIS]]"  
 
|caption="Following [[9-11|9/11]], the [[CIA]] paved the way for the creation of [[ISIS]]"  
 
}}
 
}}
[[Webster Tarpley]] is highly critical of Julian Assange, describing [[Wikileaks]] as a "[[modified limited hangout]]". Perhaps the most convincing single piece of evidence of this is his public support for the US government's {{on}} as regards the [[September 11th attacks]].<ref>http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/515</ref>
 
{{QB |"I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as [[9-11| 9/11]], when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for [[war]] or mass [[financial fraud]]."<br/>
 
''Julian Assange''<ref name=bt><cite>[http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html "Wanted by the CIA: Julian Assange - Wikileaks founder"]</cite></ref>}}
 
It is an open question whether this is his sincere belief.
 
 
==More leaks to come==
 
[[WikiLeaks]] is planning new releases of secret documents on controversial negotiations and intelligence agency operations, according to the anti-secrecy organisation's Australian founder, Julian Assange. 
 
 
In an interview with ''Fairfax Media'', Assange said that while he does not expect to leave Ecuador's London embassy any time soon, [[WikiLeaks]] very much remains in the business of publishing the secrets of diplomats and spies:
 
:"There'll be more publications – about large international so-called [[free trade deal]]s, and about an intelligence agency," Mr Assange said.<ref>[http://www.smh.com.au/national/assange-more-leaks-to-come-20150501-1mxmqz.html "Assange: More leaks to come"]</ref>
 
 
==Whacking Megrahi==
 
[[File:Abdelbaset_al-Megrahi_1.jpg|360px|right|thumb|Diagnosed with terminal cancer [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]] arriving at Tripoli airport, 20 August 2009]]
 
Julian Assange and [[Wikileaks]] have been pilloried by many as traitorous to Western interests. Yet those who maintain that [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]] was convicted of the 1988 [[Pan Am Flight 103|Lockerbie bombing]] due to false evidence, concealed police diaries and other misrepresented evidence have cause to be grateful to Assange and those who support and assist him. In December 2011, six weeks after the end of the Libyan maelstrom of war and bloody death, with its brutal killing of [[Muammar Gaddafi]], [[Jim Swire]] secretly travelled to Tripoli for his final meeting with [[al-Megrahi]], a man shortly to die of cancer. The NATO bombing campaign was over, and the conflict had reduced to sporadic outbreaks of firing and killing in several outlying parts of the country. Tripoli seemed at peace and the quiet streets offered no hint of the evil that had rampaged across the nation over the previous ten months.
 
 
Unknown to [[Jim Swire]], American intelligence and some within the American administration had three months previously been discussing the illegal rendition and assassination of [[Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]]. [[Stratfor]] is a Texas headquartered global intelligence supplier to large corporations such as the Dow Chemical Co., Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and government agencies including the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Marines and the US [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]. The company’s Vice President is [[Fred Burton]], a man much respected by those who see all foreigners as inferior to Americans. A contributor to US chat shows and Fox News, Burton has written several books and is a welcome speaker at Republican and right-wing gatherings.
 
 
On 19 August 2011, in a widely circulated email, [[Brian Genchur]] of [[Stratfor]] wrote:
 
:"I would like to kill the terrorist [[al-Megrahi]] myself. I'm hunting for him on my own thru a few channels. If he can be found, I'll have him whacked."<ref>[https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/23/2358574_re-unique-t-line-idea-.html "The Global Intelligence Files"]</ref>
 
We can be sure that if Genchur and friends had carried out an assassination they would have killed any witnesses including members of the [[Megrahi]] family who were continually at Baset’s bedside. Five days later on 24 August 2011, CEO [[Fred Burton]] added a further statement:
 
:“While the world is focusing on the chaos in Libya counterterrorism agents could take advantage of this window of opportunity to capture [[al-Megrahi]]. The symbolism of grabbing and bringing him back to stand trial in a US court would resonate around the world.”<ref>[https://wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/39/3984630_above-the-tearline-a-window-of-opportunity-for-a-rendition.html "Above the Tearline: A Window of Opportunity For a Rendition in Libya"]</ref>
 
  
The Genchur and Burton emails were revealed solely through the brave actions of Julian Assange and [[Wikileaks]]. Those who believe in the freedoms of an informed democracy should have cause to be grateful.<ref>[http://www.lockerbietruth.com/2015/05/julian-assange-and-assassination-of-al.html "Julian Assange and the assassination of Al-Megrahi"]</ref>
 
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 
{{SMWDocs}}
 
==References==
 
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
 
{{reflist}}

Latest revision as of 20:37, 4 October 2024

"Hacktivist, Whistleblower, criminal"
Person.png Julian Assange   Keywiki Sourcewatch WikiquoteRdf-entity.pngRdf-icon.png
(Publisher, Hacker?, Spook?)
Julian Assange.jpg
BornJulian Paul Hawkins
1971-07-03
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
NationalityAustralian
Alma materCentral Queensland University, University of Melbourne
Parents • Christine Assange
• John Shipton
Children • Gabriel
• Max
Spouse • Teresa Doe
• (1989–1999)
• Sarah Harrison
• (2009–2012)
• Stella Moris-Smith Robertson
• (2015–present)
Founder ofWikileaks
Member ofSam Adams Award
Interest ofPolona Florijančič, Sarah Harrison, Taylor Hudak, John Jones (lawyer), Gordon Kromberg, Joe Lauria, Richard Medhurst, Yanis Varoufakis, Elizabeth Vos
PartyIndependent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
SubpageJulian Assange/Imprisonment
A "hacktivist" of mysterious background, whose website, Wikileaks, has been the conduit for a lot of whistleblowing. His pronounced disinterest in 9/11 is particularly notable.

Employment.png Editor-in-Chief

In office
2006 - 26 September 2018
EmployerWikiLeaks
Succeeded byKristinn Hrafnsson

Employment.png Chairman of the WikiLeaks Party

In office
2 July 2013 - 23 July 2015

Julian Assange, born Julian Paul Hawkins, is an Australian programmer and Internet activist. In 2006 he founded Wikileaks. Facing arrest, Assange took refuge in June 2012 in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) reported he was being "arbitrarily detained". He was arrested in April 2019 and imprisoned in Belmarsh. In May 2019 allegations surfaced that he was being chemically tortured.[1][2][3] Craig Murray observed at the time that:

“[...] the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.”
Craig Murray (31 May 2019)  [4]

In June 2024, Assange was released on bail after an agreement to a plea deal to admit violating the US Espionage Act.[5] Assange made his first public statement after his release at the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on 1 October 2024.[6]

Background

Julian Assange was born in Australia to Christine Ann Hawkins, a visual artist, and John Shipton, an anti-war activist and builder, who separated before their son was born. His mother married Richard Brett Assange when Julian was a year old. Assange had a nomadic childhood, and had lived in over thirty Australian towns and cities by the time he reached his mid-teens, when he settled with his mother and half-brother in Melbourne, Victoria. His mother "became involved with Leif Meynell, also known as Leif Hamilton, a member of Australian cult The Family, with whom she had a son before the couple broke up in 1982."[7]

Career

Hacking

Julian Assange’s hacker alias, which he used from the age of 16, was Mendax,[8] (Latin for "lying").[9]

In 1986, he managed to hack into the Minerva system of mainframes operated by Australia's Overseas Telecommunications Commission in Sydney, as the entrance test into the Australian hacker community:[10]

Assange was determined to access Minerva, both for bragging rights and to exploit the mainframes' capabilities to run scanning and cracking programs or other netherworld adventures. But he needed a password.

And the only way he knew to get one was through what hackers call "social engineering", simply calling up a human being and conning him or her into divulging secrets.

Hence the noisy layers of Shakespearean tragedy that the altogether sane young man was producing. Assange's sound show was for the benefit of his cassette recorder, the better to simulate the background chaos of a busy office. A few minutes later, he had found a valid number within an OTC branch office in Perth. And using his uncannily deep sixteen-year-old's voice while the noise-tape played behind him, he became "John Teller", a trustworthy operator in the Sydney office trying to check a few data points corrupted by a crashed storage drive.

He dialled and a man picked up. Assange introduced himself and began the game. "The back up tape is two days old, so we want to check your information is up-to-date so your service is not interrupted," he casually told the man who answered, not missing a beat.

"Oh dear. Yes. Let's check it," Assange's mark responded in a concerned tone. Assange read out a list of easily accessible information for Minerva staff users that he had downloaded, carefully inserting an error into one user's fax number. The voice on the other end interrupted helpfully: "Oh no, that's wrong, our fax number is definitely wrong," he said.

So Assange tried to match his victim's worried tone and explained that they would need to confirm all the user's information. "Let's see. We have your account number, but we had better check your password...what was it?"

"Yes, it's L-U-R-C-H–full stop." Lurch. Assange was in. He politely ended the conversation, gave his target a call back number that rang eternally busy, and hung up, victorious in the greatest hack of his young life.[11]

Julian Assange was caught after a police raid in 1991, and charged in 1994 “with thirty-one counts of hacking and related crimes. In December 1996, he pleaded guilty to twenty-five charges (the other six were dropped), and was ordered to pay reparations of A$2,100 and released on a good behaviour bond. The perceived absence of malicious or mercenary intent and his disrupted childhood were cited to justify his lenient penalty.”[8]

Books

Julian Assange is the author of "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet", published in November 2012:

The harassment of WikiLeaks and other Internet activists, together with attempts to introduce anti-file sharing legislation such as SOPA and ACTA, indicate that the politics of the Internet have reached a crossroads. In one direction lies a future that guarantees, in the watchwords of the cypherpunks, "privacy for the weak and transparency for the powerful"; in the other lies an Internet that allows government and large corporations to discover ever more about internet users while hiding their own activities. Assange and his co-discussants unpick the complex issues surrounding this crucial choice with clarity and engaging enthusiasm.[12]

He is co-author with Suelette Dreyfus of "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier", published 1997, which

tells the extraordinary true story of the computer underground, and the bizarre lives and crimes of an elite ring of international hackers who took on the establishment. Spanning three continents and a decade of high level infiltration, they created chaos amongst some of the world's biggest and most powerful organisations, including NASA and the US military. Brilliant and obsessed, many of them found themselves addicted to hacking and phreaking. Some descended into drugs and madness, others ended up in jail. As riveting as the finest detective novel and meticulously researched, "Underground" follows the hackers through their crimes, their betrayals, the hunt, raids and investigations. It is a gripping tale of the digital underground.[13]

Nobel Peace Prize nomination

On 27 January 2022, United News of India reported that Julian Assange should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.[14]

Stella Moris tweeted: "Nobel Peace Prize nomination deadline is 31 January 2022. Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom."[15]

Czech Republic's Markéta Gregorová MEP responded: "Hi Stella, I will be nominating Julian for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a Member of the European Parliament. I plan on doing so tomorrow (28 January 2022), we are wrapping up the nomination text right now. I would be happy to coordinate together!"[16]

Extradition Appeal dismissed

On 8 June 2023, Craig Murray tweeted:

After ten months, Julian Assange's appeal against extradition is dismissed with no hearing in just three pages of A4 - by Sir Jonathan Swift, the same right wing judge who ruled deportation of asylum seekers to Rwanda was legal.[17]

Free after twelve years

Full article: Julian Assange/Imprisonment
Assange is back in Australia a free man
Free after twelve years detention in the UK

In June 2012, Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex assault claims, which he denied.[18] For the next seven years, Assange was effectively imprisoned in the Ecuadorian embassy as a result of those establishment allegations of sexual offences.

In April 2019, Assange was arrested at the embassy and appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court where District Judge Michael Snow remanded him to Belmarsh Prison until 2 May 2019,[19] when he was sentenced by Judge Deborah Taylor at Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.[20]

On 24 June 2024, after spending 62 months in Belmarsh Prison, Julian Assange was released on bail to appear the following day in court at Saipan, in the US Pacific territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.[21] On 25 June 2024, under the terms of a plea deal with the US/DOJ, Assange pleaded guilty to a felony charge under the US Espionage Act of “conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information relating to the national defense of the United States.”[22] US District Judge Ramona Manglona sentenced him to five years and two months – the time he'd spent imprisoned in the United Kingdom fighting extradition to the US – and said he was free to go.[23]

On 26 June 2024, Stella Assange posted on X:

"Julian walks out of Saipan federal court a free man. I can’t stop crying. #AssangeFree"[24]

Wikileaks

Full article: Wikileaks
WL Hour Glass.png
Assange receiving the Economist New Media Award at an Index on Censorship event in 2008,[25] the same year as the Julius Bär leak.[26]

In 2006, Assange set up Wikileaks, a website intended to publish leaked information. This has published a lot of information.

After Wikileaks was becoming too much of a problem, a report leaked out of secret cabinet meeting where Hilary Clinton questioned why Assange couldn't be assassinated by drone around 2016. The statement drew laughter from the other cabinet members, after which Clinton doubled down and called Assange a "soft target", "just walking around thumbing his nose" without any fear for the US.[27]

Views on 9/11

Full article: Rated 4/5 9-11

Since his organisation, Wikileaks, focuses on releasing information to the public that is intended to show government wrongdoing, his view on 9-11 is particularly notable:

“I'm constantly annoyed that people are distracted by false conspiracies such as 9/11, when all around we provide evidence of real conspiracies, for war or mass financial fraud.”
Julian Assange (19 July 2010)  [28]
By 2019, the original Belfast Telegraph page was changed to hide the 9-11 quote to anyone who had not logged in. The citation uses an archived version.

Webster Tarpley is highly critical for his public support for the 9-11/Official narrative and describes Wikileaks as a "modified limited hangout".[29] It is thinkable that he made the point (even if he wasn't pressed to do so) to make Wikileaks more acceptable to decisionmakers in the commercially-controlled media, at a time when he (still) had to focus on relationship building.

However, on April 20, 2019 Caitlin Johnstone disputes claim Assange is a CIA intelligence asset-limited hangout: "Debunking All the Assange Smears"[30] pointing out how can he possibly be a "CIA asset-limited hangout" and be imprisoned in Belmarsh, awaiting extradition to the U.S.? Note that Webster Tarpley stated Wikileaks is a modified limited hangout and not directly Julian Assange.

Brendon O'Connell offers an alternative explanation on Jan 5, 2022, Episode 90: "Assange, Snowden Russia And Israel"- The Great Game.[31] According to O'Connell, Assange worked for KGB and Russian security services as an asset, offering a video history of his hacking, before Wikileaks.

"Following 9/11, the CIA paved the way for the creation of ISIS"


 

Documents by Julian Assange

TitleDocument typePublication dateSubject(s)Description
Document:Assange Statement on the start of Bradley Manning trialstatement4 June 2013Chelsea Manning
Document:Freedom and the Future of the Internetbook introduction1 October 2012Surveillance State
Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet
Document:Google and the NSAarticle24 August 2013National Security Agency
Mass surveillance
Google
Document:Guantanamo SOP Confirms Psychological Torturearticle17 November 2007Torture
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
Standard operating procedures for military personnel running the Guatanamo Bay military prison confirm that the rules governing the treatment of its inmates amounts to systematic torture
Document:Julian Assange at Moment of TruthVideo transcript15 September 2014UKUSA
Mass surveillance
Speech by Julian Assange to the Moment of Truth event in New Zealand on 15 September 2014

 

Quotes by Julian Assange

PageQuoteDateSource
Australia“We should understand, Australia is part of the United States. It is part of this English-speaking empire, the center of gravity of which is the United States, the second center of which is the United Kingdom”...“Australia is a suburb in that arrangement. Our capital is Washington. The capital of Australia is DC. That’s the reality...That’s where the decisions are made.”
Mobile phone“A mobile phone is a tracking device that also makes calls”Cypherpunk Ethics: Radical Ethics for the Digital Age (2022) by Patrick D. Anderson
Donald Trump“My analysis is that Trump would not be permitted to win. Why do I say that? Because he has had every establishment off his side. Trump does not have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment. Banks, intelligence, arms companies, foreign money, etc. are all united behind Hillary Clinton. And the media as well. Media owners, and the journalists themselves.”November 2016Julian Assange

 

Related Quotations

PageQuoteAuthorDate
"COVID-19/Response"“To minimize COVID-19] infection the UK is granting early release to all non-violent, non-Julian Assange prisoners.”Caitlin Johnstone4 April 2020
Ilham Aliyev“How do you assess what happened to Mr Assange? Is it a reflection of free media in your country?”Ilham Aliyev15 November 2020
Prison“Should Assange die in a UK prison, as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has warned, he will effectively have been tortured to death. Much of that torture will have taken place in a prison medical ward, on doctors' watch. The medical profession cannot afford to stand silently by, on the wrong side of torture and the wrong side of history, while such a travesty unfolds. In the interests of defending medical ethics, medical authority, and the human right to health, and taking a stand against torture, together we can challenge and raise awareness of the abuses detailed in our letters. Our appeals are simple: we are calling upon governments to end the torture of Assange and ensure his access to the best available health care before it is too late. Our request to others is this: please join us...”117 doctorsFebruary 2020
Yanis VaroufakisThe establishment, the Deep State, call it whatever you want, the oligarchy, they’ve become much, much better at character assassination than they used to be. Because back in the 1960s and 1970s, you know, they would accuse you of being a Communist. They would accuse me of being a Marxist. Well, I am a Marxist. I’m really not going to suffer that much if you accuse me of being a left-winger. I am a left-winger!
Now what they do is something far worse. They accuse you of something that really hurts you. Calling somebody like us a racist, a bigot, an antisemite, a rapist. This is what really hurts because if anybody calls me a rapist today, right, even if it’s complete baloney, I feel as a feminist I have the need to give the woman, implied or involved somehow in this accusation, the opportunity to speak against me. Because that is what we left-wingers do.”
Yanis Varoufakis6 January 2021

 

Related Documents

TitleTypePublication dateAuthor(s)Description
Document:Assange Final Appeal Day 2 – Your Man in the Public Galleryblog post29 February 2024Craig MurrayInitially US authorities were keen to downplay the possible sentence, but have radically changed tack and now emphasise 30 to 40 years as the norm, which is in effect a rest of life sentence. That shift, together with the refusal so far to rule out the death penalty, gives a measure of the ruthlessness with which the CIA is pursuing the extradition of Julian Assange.
Document:Assange Final Appeal – Your Man in the Public Galleryblog post21 February 2024Craig MurrayThe indictment describes Wikileaks as a “non-state hostile intelligence agency”. That was plainly an accusation of espionage. This is self-evidently a politically motivated prosecution for a political offence.
Document:Assange Judge is 40-year "good friend" of Minister who orchestrated his arrestArticle2 December 2021Mark Curtis
Matt Kennard
Julian Assange’s fate lies in the hands of an Appeal Judge who is a close friend of Sir Alan Duncan - the former Foreign Office minister who called Assange a “miserable little worm” in Parliament
Document:Beyond Wordsblog post8 April 2020Craig MurrayNobody cultivates her own anonymity more than Magistrate Vanessa Baraitser who has her existence carefully removed from the Internet almost entirely. Yet she seeks to destroy the peace and young lives of Julian Assange’s family.
Document:Chelsea Manning released, faces new imprisonment for refusing to testify against AssangeArticle10 May 2019Niles Niemuth“The idea I hold the keys to my own cell is an absurd one, as I face the prospect of suffering either way due to this unnecessary and punitive subpoena: I can either go to jail or betray my principles,” Manning explained. “The latter exists as a much worse prison than the government can construct.”
Document:Chelsea and Julian are in Jail. History Trembles.blog post12 April 2019Craig MurrayJulian Assange said nothing during the whole brief proceedings, other than to say “Not guilty” twice, and to ask a one sentence question about why the charges were changed midway through this sham “trial”. Yet Judge Michael Snow condemned Assange as “narcissistic”.
Document:Civil Liberty Vanishesblog post6 May 2020Craig Murray"Serious questions have to be asked about why the UK government has developed its own unique app, universally criticised for its permanent central data collection and ability to identify individuals from their unique codes. That this is overseen by NHSX CEO Matthew Gould who held all those secret meetings with Liam Fox and Adam Werritty, including with Mossad, frankly stinks."
Document:Council of Europe sides with Julian AssangeArticleSara ChessaThe attitude of European institutions is changing after years of silence which seemed to authorise or support the US and the United Kingdom’s behaviour in relation to an individual who is apparently deprived of the right to prepare his defence and deprived as well of his right to dignified psychophysical conditions. Now, the Council of Europe has decided to speak up on behalf of Julian Assange.
Document:Craig Murray’s jailing is the latest move in a battle to snuff out independent journalismblog post30 July 2021Jonathan CookAssange and Murray are not only telling us troubling truths we are not supposed to hear. The fact that they are being denied solidarity by those who are their colleagues, those who may be next in the firing line, tells us everything we need to know about the so-called mainstream media: that the role of corporate journalists is to serve establishment interests, not challenge them.
Document:Diane Abbott – 2019 Speech on Julian AssangeSpeech11 April 2019Diane AbbottWe only have to look at the treatment of Chelsea Manning to see what awaits Julian Assange if he is extradited to the US
Document:Eye Witness to the Agony of Julian AssangeArticle2 October 2020John PilgerIn the Assange trial, the defendant was caged behind thick glass, and had to crawl on his knees to a slit in the glass, overseen by his guard, to make contact with his lawyers. His message, whispered barely audibly through face masks, was then passed by post-it the length of the court to where his barristers were arguing the case against his extradition to an American hellhole.
Document:FBI Fabrication Against Assange Falls Apartblog post29 June 2021Craig MurrayThe revelation that Sigi Thordarson’s allegations are fabricated – which everyone knew already, Vanessa Baraitser just pretended she didn’t – is just one more illegality that the Establishment will shimmy over in its continued persecution of Julian Assange.
Document:Five questions for new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer about his UK and US national security establishment linksArticle5 June 2020Matt KennardKeir Starmer did not become leader to help Labour win, but to restore establishment control over the party and vanquish the heretics that dared defy its agenda. For the forces he truly represents, the project has been a smashing success.
Document:Former ambassador and Assange advocate Craig Murray detained under UK terror lawsArticle17 October 2023Kit KlarenbergWhen probed by counter-terror cops about the contents of his laptop, Craig Murray says he openly disclosed that the device contained copies of leaked private emails of Stewart McDonald, a hawkish, deep state-connected Scottish National Party MP: “I told the officers I pitied whichever poor bastard has to wade through McDonald’s emails,” he joked.
Document:Framing Russian meddling in the Catalan questionreportOctober 2017Integrity Initiative/Cluster/SpainAn example of Projection by the Integrity Initiative. The Moncloa operation shows that the group itself has been involved in subverting the Spanish political process. This document accuses Russia of involvment in the Catalonia independence question.
Document:Julian Assange Must be Freed, Not BetrayedArticle18 February 2020John PilgerSarah Ferguson's interview made no mention of a leaked document, revealed by WikiLeaks, called 'Libya Tick Tock', prepared for Hillary Clinton, which described her as the central figure driving the destruction of the Libyan state in 2011. This resulted in 40,000 deaths, the arrival of ISIS in North Africa and the European refugee and migrant crisis.
Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic DrugArticle8 May 2019Kurt NimmoThe FBI, Pentagon, and CIA are “interviewing” Julian Assange in Belmarsh Prison. The CIA Director Gina Haspel (aka Chemical Gina) has her hands in this one, and we are being told that Assange is being “treated” with BZ (a powerful drug that produces hallucinations).
Document:Julian Assange exposed the crimes of powerful actors, including Israelblog post19 April 2019Alison WeirJulian Assange has recently been honoured with the 2019 Award for Journalists, Whistleblowers & Defenders of the Right to Information and Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire has nominated him for the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize.
Document:Julian Assange is a suspected Russian intelligence assetArticle24 February 2020Susie Boniface"If Assange was interested in avoiding extradition to the US, he'd have gone to Sweden to answer the charges that were unlikely to see a conviction, and where he had far less chance of being extradited. But if he really WERE a Russian intelligence asset... well, then it all makes sense." - except that what it really makes is nonsense.
Document:Julian Assange makes first public statement since prison releaseblog post1 October 2024Andy Worthington"Freedom of expression and all that flows from it is at a dark crossroad. I fear that unless norm-setting institutions like PACE wake up to the gravity of the situation it will be too late. Let us all commit to doing our part to ensure that the light of freedom never dims, that the pursuit of truth will live on, and that the voices of the many are not silenced by the interests of the few."
Document:Julian Assange to make final appeal in extradition caseArticle9 June 2023Mark LoweAccording to RSF, the upcoming appeal represents Assange’s final opportunity to contest extradition within the UK, unless he decides to bring his case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Document:Keir Starmer is a Long-Time Servant of the British Security StateArticle2 March 2021Oliver EagletonKeir Starmer is sometimes praised for being an outsider in the world of politics (or mocked as too lawyerly and insufficiently political). But in reality, much of his work as Director of Public Prosecutions blurred the boundaries between prosecutor and politician – following the dictates of the Cameron coalition, negotiating with foreign officials on its behalf, and dropping or pursuing cases according to its interests.
Document:Media Freedom? Show me the MSM Journalist Opposing the Torture of Assangeblog post7 September 2020Craig MurrayAt a time when the government is mooting designating Extinction Rebellion as Serious Organised Crime, right wing bequiffed muppet Keir Starmer was piously condemning the group, stating: “The free press is the cornerstone of democracy and we must do all we can to protect it.”
Document:Media silent on dismissal of DNC suit against Julian AssangeArticle2 August 2019Oscar GrenfellJudge Koeltl further undermined the claims of the Trump administration, the Democrats and the media that Julian Assange is a “hacker,” undeserving of First Amendment protections. In other words, the attempt to extradite Assange to the US and prosecute him is a frontal assault on the US Constitution and press freedom.
Document:Muellergate and the Discreet Lies of the BourgeoisieBlog post1 April 2019Craig MurrayThe capacity of the mainstream media repeatedly to promote the myth that Russia caused Clinton’s defeat, while never mentioning what the information was that had been so damaging to Hillary, should be alarming to anybody under the illusion that we have a working “free media”.
Document:Murray Scottish Appeal Denied; Allowed to Try UK CourtArticle8 June 2021Joe LauriaCraig Murray may have been a Crown target for the contempt conviction because he was among few writers defending Alex Salmond and was vindicated by Salmond’s acquittal. Murray has been a fierce advocate for his friend Julian Assange, the imprisoned WikiLeaks publisher, whom the United States is trying to extradite from Britain.
Document:No fair hearing for Assange at the Guardianarticle5 February 2016Jonathan CookDemonstrates the Establishment-friendly double standards of the UK's flagship 'Left-wing' newspaper - The Guardian - through analysis of its coverage of a UN decision on the political asylum of Julian Assange
Document:On the Pavement with Wikileaksblog post7 April 2019Craig MurrayPretty well all of the Western media is going to want to focus on these false anti-Assange narratives, and they will be determined to give as little attention as possible to the fact he is a publisher facing trial for publishing leaked state documents which revealed state wrongdoing. It is a classic and fundamental issue of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Document:People Need to Reclaim the Internetblog post19 October 2020Craig MurrayThe development of social media gatekeeping of internet traffic is one of the key socio-political issues of our time. We need the original founders of the Internet to get together with figures like Richard Stallman and – vitally – Julian Assange – to find a way we break free from this.
Document:Publishing is not a CrimeLetter28 November 2022GNM press officeBelated crocodile tears spilt by elements of the corporate media over Julian Assange
Document:Revenge Is Mine Saith Washingtonarticle20 November 2018Paul Craig RobertsAn abridged article about the persecution of Julian Assange. It illustrates the depths to which elementary notions of justice have sunk in the West - and especially in the UK and USA - where perceived threats to Deep State interests are involved.
Document:Sex, Lies and Julian AssangeTranscript23 July 2012Andrew FowlerHe humiliated the most powerful country in the world. But his relationship with two Swedish women, and their claims of sexual assault, may yet destroy Julian Assange.
Document:So Where is the Swedish Warrant?blog post27 April 2019Craig MurrayAll those Blairite MPs who seek to dodge the glaring issue of freedom of the media to publish whistleblower material revealing government crimes, by hiding behind trumped-up sexual allegations, are left looking pretty stupid.
Document:The 7 years of lies about Assange won’t stop nowBlog post11 April 2019Jonathan CookA brief resume of the lies and deceptions promoted by The Establishment about Julian Assange during his asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy.
Document:The Assange Arrest is a Warning From HistoryArticle12 April 2019John PilgerLeni Riefenstahl, close friend of Adolf Hitler, whose films helped cast the Nazi spell over Germany told me that the message in her films, the propaganda, was dependent not on “orders from above” but on what she called the “submissive void” of the public: "When people no longer ask serious questions, they are submissive and malleable. Anything can happen.”
Document:The Assange Case Invalidates US Criticisms Of Russia: Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative MatrixArticle14 April 2022Caitlin JohnstoneJust the fact that the US and UK are imprisoning a journalist for exposing the war crimes of a war criminal president — just that one fact by itself — completely invalidates all criticisms of Russia from Washington and its allies.
Document:The Broader View Reveals the Ugliest of Prospectsblog post17 June 2019Craig MurrayI find it hard to believe that I live in times where Julian Assange suffers as he does for telling the truth, where a dedicated anti-racist like Jeremy Corbyn is subjected to daily false accusations of racism and to US and security service backed efforts to thwart his democratic prospects, where the most laughable false flag is paraded to move us towards war with Iran, and where there is no semblance of a genuinely independent media.
Document:The CIA plot to kidnap or kill Julian Assange in London is a story that is being mistakenly ignoredArticle1 October 2021Patrick CockburnJulian Assange and Jamal Khashoggi were targeted because they fulfilled the primary duty of journalists – telling the public what governments want to keep secret
Document:The Happiest of Daysblog post25 June 2024Craig MurrayCraig Murray: "I should be plain I have always advised Julian and Stella to take a plea deal if offered and get out of jail. I have no doubt this was a life or death choice."
Document:The Unrelenting Stateblog post31 May 2019Craig MurrayJulian Assange: That the most lucid man I know is now not capable of having a rational conversation is extremely alarming.
Document:The arrest of journalist Richard Medhurst and the fight to defend democratic rightsArticle27 August 2024Robert StevensNow, in a move that would have been agreed to by PM Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, Labour has pioneered the use of an amendment to the Terrorism Act passed by the Tories to once again attempt to silence and criminalise a journalist and political activist. The same course is being pursued by governments throughout the world.
Document:Trump, Assange, Bannon, Farage… bound together in an unholy allianceOp-ed29 October 2017Carole Cadwalladr(You got this? Farage visited Trump, then Assange, then Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher met Don Trump’s Russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya. Then Assange. And is now trying to close the circle with Trump.)
Document:US Issues Assurances on AssangeArticle16 April 2024Joe LauriaStella Assange: “The United States has issued a non-assurance in relation to the First Amendment, and a standard assurance in relation to the death penalty. The Biden Administration must drop this dangerous prosecution before it is too late.”
Document:Whenever it truly matters, from Assange to Corbyn, George Monbiot cripples the leftArticle11 October 2022Jonathan CookGeorge Monbiot is treated by much of the left as a figurehead, one whose environmentalism earns him credibility and credit with the left on foreign policy issues, from Syria to Ukraine, in which he echoes the same talking points one hears from Keir Starmer to Liz Truss. While on matters at home, like Assange and Corbyn, he sucks the wind out of the left’s sails.
Document:Why I am Convinced that Anna Ardin is a Liarblog post11 September 2012Craig MurrayTo those useful idiots who claim that the way to test these matters is in court, I would say of course, you are right, we should trust the state always, fit-ups never happen, and we should absolutely condemn the disgraceful behaviour of those who campaigned for the Birmingham Six
Document:Wikileaks - Open Letter to the US Governmentopen letter14 July 2011RevolutionTruth
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References

  1. Document:Julian Assange Tortured with Psychotropic Drug
  2. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/05/karen-kwiatkowski/pray-and-weep/ saved at Archive.org saved at Archive.is
  3. https://www.lewrockwell.com/2019/09/karen-kwiatkowski/why-is-julian-assange-being-tortured-to-death/ saved at Archive.org saved at Archive.is
  4. https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2019/05/the-unrelenting-state/comment-page-1/
  5. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/wikileaks-assange-expected-plead-guilty-us-espionage-charge-document-says-2024-06-24/
  6. Document:Julian Assange makes first public statement since prison release
  7. https://gawker.com/5551790/the-strange-upbringing-of-wikileaks-founder-jullian-assange
  8. a b "Reasons not to take the Julian Assange story at face value"
  9. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/mendax#Latin
  10. "A visibility superstar"
  11. "This Machine Kills Secrets: How WikiLeakers, Cypherpunks, and Hacktivists Aim to Free the World's Information"
  12. "Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet"
  13. "Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness, and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier"
  14. "Assange should be nominated for Nobel Peace Prize - Fiancee"
  15. "Nominations are themselves protective, but a win would be so politically protective it would very likely secure Julian's freedom"
  16. "I will be nominating Julian for the Nobel Peace Prize, as a Member of the European Parliament"
  17. "After ten months, Julian Assange's appeal against extradition is dismissed with no hearing in just three pages of A4"
  18. "Marianne Ny: Making an arse of Swedish law"
  19. "Julian Assange supporters ordered to forfeit £93,500 bail money"
  20. "Julian Assange legal team begin 'big fight' over extradition"
  21. Document:The Happiest of Days
  22. "What is Julian Assange’s plea deal?"
  23. "WikiLeaks’s Julian Assange declared ‘free man’ in Saipan after US plea deal"
  24. "Julian walks out of Saipan federal court a free man. I can’t stop crying. #AssangeFree"
  25. https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2008/03/awards-2008/
  26. https://www.economist.com/christmas-specials/2017/12/23/one-mans-fight-against-the-swiss-offshore-banking-system
  27. https://t.co/S7tPrl2QCZ
  28. http://web.archive.org/web/20100720202218/http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/features/wanted-by-the-cia-wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-14880073.html
  29. http://www.unwelcomeguests.net/515
  30. https://caitlinjohnstone.com/2019/04/20/debunking-all-the-assange-smears/
  31. https://youtu.be/Nn98EauQC98