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Agence France-Presse

A heroic campaigner for openness, or an enemy of the US state trying to avoid justice? After a decade in the limelight, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange remains a polarising figure.
The 47-year-old Australian was on Thursday arrested by British police at Ecuador’s embassy in London, his home since 2012, after it withdrew his asylum status.

Assange lived in a small apartment in the embassy where he sought refuge while facing investigation for sexual assault and rape in Sweden, claims which were later dropped.
He denied the allegations, saying they were politically motivated and expressing fears of a plot to ultimately extradite him to the United States.
Assange bleaches his hair among 140 ‘false’ things about WikiLeaks founder
At the time, he was famous as the frontman of WikiLeaks as the whistle-blowing website exposed government secrets worldwide.
He was applauded by transparency and anti-war campaigners for revealing the death of civilians, torture and clandestine military operations with the release of 500,000 US documents on the Iraq and Afghan wars.
But the US and its allies accused him of risking lives by revealing information on sources, intelligence techniques and key infrastructure sites.

Human rights groups and newspapers that once worked with Assange to edit and publish the war logs were also horrified when WikiLeaks dumped the documents unredacted online, including the names of informants.
There have since been questions about his relationship with Russia, with WikiLeaks identified in independent prosecutor Robert Mueller’s probe into interference in the 2016 US election.
Mueller found that Russian government actors hacked White House hopeful Hillary Clinton’s campaign “and publicly disseminated those materials through various intermediaries, including WikiLeaks”.
Judge throws out Julian Assange lawsuit, he must clean up after cat
Born in Townsville, Queensland, in 1971, Assange has described a nomadic childhood and claims to have attended 37 schools before settling in Melbourne.
As a teenager he discovered a talent for computer hacking, and although he has pleaded guilty to 25 such offences, he has only ever walked away with fines.
He created WikiLeaks in 2006 with a group of like-minded activists and IT experts, to provide a secure way for whistle-blowers to leak information.

A confident speaker, he became its figurehead – and a lightning rod for criticism.
The most damaging leaks emerged in 2010, beginning with a video showing a US military Apache helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and several Iraqi civilians on a Baghdad street in 2007.
It was followed by more than 90,000 classified US military files from the Afghan war, 400,000 from Iraq, and in November that year, around 250,000 US diplomatic cables covering almost every country in the world.
Ecuador’s president says Assange ‘repeatedly violated’ asylum terms
He was arrested in Britain in December 2010 and a judge ordered his extradition to Sweden. Although the claims were dropped, he still faced arrest by British police for having jumped bail.
Ecuador’s then president, Rafael Correa, said Assange’s human rights could be at risk and offered him refuge, but his successor, Lenin Moreno, who took office in 2017, has had less patience.
He has accused Assange of interfering in foreign affairs. Ecuador temporarily cut his internet connection last year, and last week said the Australian had “repeatedly violated” the terms of his stay.

In the past, Assange said his time at the embassy was like living in a space station – he exercised on a treadmill and used a sun lamp to make up for the lack of natural light.
This week, his supporters said it had become a “Truman-show type situation”, accusing the Ecuador authorities of gathering thousands of photographs and videos from inside the apartment.
Chelsea Manning jailed for refusing to testify in WikiLeaks case
In 2016 a UN panel declared that Assange had been detained arbitrarily, but critics have said his concerns of extradition to the US are unfounded and accused him of seeking to avoid justice.
“WikiLeaks was founded on exposing those who ignored the rule of law. Surely its editor-in-chief should recognise his duty to see it upheld,” The Guardian newspaper, which once worked with him to publish the leaks, wrote in 2016.


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WikiLeaks

Is arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a transparency icon or an enemy of the state?

Supporters of Julian Assange rally for his release outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London, Britain on Thursday. Photo: EPA-EFE

WikiLeaks founder Julian AssangeÕs arrest by British police this morning. 11APR19 Picture: Handout

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is seen in a police van, after he was arrested by British police, in London, Britain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor in chief of Wikileaks, and barrister Jennifer Robinson talk to the media outside the Westminster Magistrates Court after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested in London, Britain, April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

A demonstrator is carried away by police officers after trying to stop a vehicle as it leaves Westminster magistrates court where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was appearing in London, Thursday, April 11, 2019. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was forcibly bundled out of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and into a waiting British police van on Thursday, setting up a potential court battle over attempts to extradite him to the U.S. to face charges related to the publication of tens of thousands of secret government documents. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested in London under US extradition warrant

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a police van after his arrest in London on April 11, 2019. Photo: Reuters

Members of the media surround a prisoner transport vehicle as it arrives at the Westminster Magistrates Court after WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arrested by British police outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, Britain April 11, 2019. REUTERS/Hannah McKay

FILE - In this file photo dated Friday May 19, 2017, watched by the media WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange looks out from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy prior to speaking, in London. London police say they've arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian embassy, it was reported on Thursday, April 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being dragged out of the Ecuador embassy in London by British police on April 11, 2019. Picture: Ruptly

Ecuador’s president says Julian Assange ‘repeatedly violated’ asylum terms at London embassy, protests leak of private family photos

Julian Assange sports long hair and a beard in a December video conference. Photo: AFP

Handout picture released by the Ecuadorean Presidency press office showing Ecuadorean President Lenin Moreno speaking during an interview with local radio journalists on Wikileaks founder Julien Assange in Guayaquil, Ecuador on April 2, 2019. (Photo by ANDRES REINOSO / Ecuadorian Presidency / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / ECUADOREAN PRESIDENCY PRESS OFFICE / ANDRES REYNOSO" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

A cat named 'James' looks out of the window of the Ecuadorian Embassy where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been holed up for over five years, on July 30, 2018. - Assange took refuge in the diplomatic mission in 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there. Assange claims the accusations were politically motivated and could lead to him being extradited to the United States to face imprisonment over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. (Photo by Tolga AKMEN / AFP)

FILE- In this Friday May 19, 2017 file photo, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange greets supporters outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno said on Tuesday, March 2, 2019, that he wants to reach an agreement for Assange to leave the Embassy in London as soon as possible, as long as his life is not in danger. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

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47-year-old Australian taken into custody in London on Thursday remains a polarising figure after a decade in the limelight


47-year-old Australian taken into custody in London on Thursday remains a polarising figure after a decade in the limelight.


Britain

United States

War in Afghanistan

Sexual harassment and assault

Is arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange a transparency icon or an enemy of the state?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}47-year-old Australian taken into custody in London on Thursday remains a polarising figure after a decade in the limelight

47-year-old Australian taken into custody in London on Thursday remains a polarising figure after a decade in the limelight