Assange launches WikiLeaks party in Australia
WikiLeaks party formed and leader will stand for senate seat despite being trapped in London
Julian Assange yesterday formally started a political party bearing the name of his anti-secrecy organisation, WikiLeaks, and announced his own candidacy for a seat in the Australian senate.
Assange said he was confident in his ability to run a campaign from the Ecuadorean embassy in London.
He has been living there for more than a year so as not to face extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning on sexual assault allegations.
"It's not unlike running the WikiLeaks organisation," he said. "We have people on every continent. We have to deal with over a dozen legal cases at once. However, it's nice to be politically engaged in my home country."
Assange, an Australian journalist and computer hacker who rose to prominence as an evangelist for government transparency and a critic of US foreign policy, is a polarising figure.
His supporters laud him as a hero for what they see as his dogged pursuit of government transparency.