LONDON: Julian Assange, who was announced on Monday to be in a plea deal with US authorities that will see him go free, is for some a fearless campaigner for press freedom.
But for others, the 52-year-old Australian was reckless with classified information, possibly endangering human sources.Assange is the figurehead of the whistleblowing website that exposed government secrets worldwide, notably the explosive leak of US military files related to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As a teenager, he discovered a talent for computer hacking, which brought him to the attention of the Australian police, but he admitted most of the charges levelled against him, for which he paid a fine.“We are creating a new standard for a free press,“ Assange told AFP in August 2010.His legal battles began the same year, soon after he published revelations from classified documents about US military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rape allegations in Sweden then followed, which he denied.
His lengthy stay in the mission ended, however, after a new government in Quito turned him over to British police in April 2019. He was arrested for jumping bail and jailed. The announcement comes just two weeks before Assange had been scheduled to appear in court in Britain to appeal against a ruling approving his extradition to the United States.Assange's backers, including the Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei and the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, claimed the charges were politically motivated.
Assange was initially supported by human rights groups and newspapers that worked with him to edit and publish the US war logs.
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