Julian Assange

"hacktivist, whistleblower"  Julian Assange      (Publisher, hacker?, spook?)
Born	Julian Paul Hawkins 1971-07-03 Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	Central Queensland University, University of Melbourne
Parents	• Christine Assange • John Shipton
Children	4
Spouse	Teresa Doe
Founder of	Wikileaks
Member of	Sam Adams Award
Interest of	Polona Florijančič, Sarah Harrison, Taylor Hudak, John Jones (lawyer), Gordon Kromberg, Joe Lauria, Richard Medhurst, Yanis Varoufakis, Elizabeth Vos
Party	Independent, (since 2015), WikiLeaks, (2012—2015)
Subpage	•Julian 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.  Editor-in-Chief In office 2006 - 26 September 2018 Employer WikiLeaks Succeeded by Kristinn Hrafnsson  Chairman of the WikiLeaks Party In office 2 July 2013 - 23 July 2015

Julian Assange, né Julian Paul Hawkins, is an Australian programmer. In 2006 he founded Wikileaks.

“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) 
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 The citation uses an archived version.

Facing arrest, he took refuge in 2012 in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, where he remained for years. TheUN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) that he was being "arbitrarily detained". He was arrested in 2019 and imprisoned in Belmarsh. In May 2019 allegations surfaced that he was being chemically lobotomized.

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

Assange was arrested for hacking in 1991, in 1996 he plead guilty and was sentenced leniently in light of his disrupted childhood

Wikileaks

Full article: Wikileaks

In 2006, Assange set up Wikileaks, a website intended to publish leaked information. This has published a lot of information. Webster Tarpley, noting that Assanges's statement on the attacks of September 11th, termed it a modified limited hangout.

Ecuadorian embassy siege

In June 2012 Julian Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex assault claims, which he denies. 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. 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."

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. 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'". 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".

In a 2015 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 deals, and about an intelligence agency," Mr Assange said.

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/)."

On 28 November 2016, Assange said:

“Today, marking the six-year anniversary of Cablegate, WikiLeaks expands its 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.

"Free Julian Assange"

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:

“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.

"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'.”

Metropolitan Police arrest Julian Assange

Arrest

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. The full indictment is here.

On 11 April 2019, Craig Murray tweeted:

"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."

Wikileaks tweeted:

"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."

Publishing a video of the arrest, RT reported:

"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."

Imprisonment

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, when he was sentenced by Judge Deborah Taylor at Southwark Crown Court to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.

Journalist Gordon Dimmack receives letter from Belmarsh Prison

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”:

“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.”

On 25 May 2019, Assange addressed a letter to journalist Gordon Dimmack describing the conditions in prison:

"I have been isolated from all ability to prepare to defend myself, no laptop, no internet, no computer, no library so far, but even if I do get access it will be just for half an hour with everyone else once a week. Just two visits a month and it takes weeks to get someone on the call list and the Catch-22 in getting their details to be security screened. Then all calls except lawyer are recorded and are a maximum 10 minutes and in a limited 30 minutes each day in which all prisoners compete for the phone."

Initial US Charge

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 U.S. Code - Unannotated Title 18. Crimes and Criminal Procedure § 371, 1030(a)(1), 1030(a)(2) and 1030(c)(2)(B)(ii), and if convicted "each shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both."

17 additional charges

Facing up to 175 years in prison?

On 23 May 2019, the USDOJ unveiled a further 17 criminal charges against Julian Assange, saying he contravened the Espionage Act of 1917 by publishing the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted ex-Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information. Each charge carries a jail sentence of up to 10 years.

He now faces a total of 18 criminal counts, which could result in up to 175 years in prison if convicted:

“These unprecedented charges demonstrate the gravity of the threat the criminal prosecution of Julian Assange poses to all journalists in their endeavour to inform the public about actions that have been taken by the US government,” said Barry Pollack, an American attorney for Assange.

The USDOJ’s quick turnaround with the filing of a more substantial indictment against Assange is not surprising. Under extradition rules, the United States had only a 60-day window from the date of Assange’s arrest in London to add more charges. After that, foreign governments do not generally accept superseding charges.

Kristinn Hrafnsson tweeted:

"I find no satisfaction in saying ‘I told you so’ to those who for 9 years have scorned us for warning this moment would come. I care for journalism. If you share my feeling you take a stand NOW. Either you are a worthless coward or you defend Assange, WikiLeaks and Journalism."

Opinions

September 11th

"Following 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". He cites Assange's public support for the 9-11/Official narrative.

Tweets

On 6 October 2017, Assange tweeted:

"The Nobel Peace Prize has finally been awarded to a group that fits the criteria: the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

On 12 February 2018, he tweeted:

My arrest warrant judgment is tomorrow 2pm (Feb 13), Westminster Magistrates Court, London.

And on 13 February 2018, he tweeted:

Judge refuses to withdraw Julian Assange arrest warrant.