Julian Assange: WikiLeaks' Controversial Founder

London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th Feb, 2024) Julian Assange, the 52-year-old Australian fighting extradition from Britain to the United States, is for some a fearless campaigner for press freedom. For others, he was reckless with classified information, possibly endangering sources.

Assange is the figurehead of the whistleblowing website that exposed government secrets worldwide, notably the explosive leak of US military and diplomatic files related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has spent over a decade either in custody or holed up in Ecuador's London embassy, trying to avoid extradition -- first to Sweden to answer allegations of rape, and then to the US.

Born in Townsville, Queensland, in 1971, Assange had a peripatetic childhood and claims to have attended 37 schools before settling in Melbourne.

As a teenager, he discovered a talent for computer hacking, which soon brought him to the attention of the Australian police.

He admitted most of the charges levelled against him, for which he paid a fine.

Assange launched WikiLeaks in 2006 with a group of like-minded activists and IT experts.

"We are creating a new standard for a free press," Assange told AFP in August 2010.