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Julian Assange: WikiLeaks' controversial founder
The legal controversies surrounding Julian Assange are now in their second decade and the divisions between his supporters and critics remain as intractable as ever.
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In this file photo taken on May 19, 2017, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange speaks on the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in London. (AFP/Justin Tallis)
T
he legal controversies surrounding WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange are now in their second decade and the divisions between his supporters and critics remain as intractable as ever.
For some, the 50-year-old Australian is 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 most of the past 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 United States.
Born in Townsville, Queensland, in 1971, Assange has described 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 Australian police.
He admitted most of the charges levelled against him, for which he paid a fine.
