Julian Assange

b. 1971 · WikiLeaks (2006–)

Founded WikiLeaks as a publisher of last resort for classified material, rising to world prominence with the 2010 war-log and Cablegate releases. Awarded press prizes and simultaneously condemned for publishing unredacted names. Spent seven years in embassy asylum and five in a London prison fighting extradition, until a 2024 plea deal to a single Espionage Act count set him free.

The pursuit

Built WikiLeaks (2006) into a cryptographic drop-box for anonymous sources paired with global publishing.
Coordinated the 2010 releases — Collateral Murder, Afghan and Iraq war logs, Cablegate — with five world newspapers.
Endured embassy asylum (2012–2019) and Belmarsh prison (2019–2024) rather than face US trial, until the plea deal.

The impact

Proved large-scale classified publishing was technically and journalistically possible.
Forced the unresolved legal question his case embodied: where publishing ends and espionage begins.
Later WikiLeaks publications kept the organisation globally influential and globally controversial.

Where their work lives

← Edward SnowdenDaphne Caruana Galizia →

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