Julian Assange Biography / Pictures

Julian Assange (born 3 July 1971) is an Australian publisher, journalist, software developer and Internet activist.

Biography

Julian Assange is the founder, spokesperson and editor in chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website and conduit for worldwide news leaks, with the stated purpose of creating open governments. Julian worked as a computer programmer and was a hacker during his youth. He has lived in several countries and has made public appearances in many parts of the world to speak about freedom of the press, censorship and investigative journalism.

Julian founded the WikiLeaks website in 2006 and serves on its advisory board. Julian Assange has published material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya, toxic waste dumping in Côte d'Ivoire, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer. In 2010, Julian Assange published Iraq War documents and Afghan War documents about American involvement in the wars, some of which was classified material. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five international print media partners (Der Spiegel, The New York Times, Le Monde, The Guardian and El País) began publishing US diplomatic cables.

Julian has received a number of awards and nominations, including the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award for publishing material about extrajudicial killings in Kenya and Readers' Choice for Time magazine's 2010 Person of the Year.

Julian plans to appeal a February 2011 decision by English courts to extradite him to Sweden for questioning in relation to a sexual assault investigation. Julian Assange has said the allegations are "without basis".