Julian Assange once set out to provide the world with secret information and to greatly annoy those in power – be it states, politicians, banks or the rich. Since 2007, the hacker and activist has been publishing secret documents of all kinds on his Wikileaks platform, which were leaked to him by so-called whistleblowers. In 2010, Wikileaks pulled off the most spectacular coup: the platform made around 470,000 secret US files public. The documents all have to do with US diplomatic activities and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Another 250,000 will be added later. The documents contain explosive information about US operations in these countries, including the killing of civilians and the mistreatment of prisoners. The most famous is the video from an on-board camera on a US military helicopter. It shows US soldiers shooting civilians and journalists in Baghdad.
But there were also questionable publications. When Wikileaks published thousands of emails from the Democratic Party during the 2016 US election campaign, there was a hail of criticism. The publications damaged Hillary Clinton and benefited Donald Trump. The Russian secret service probably leaked the emails to Wikileaks.
Since 2012, Assange has evaded the threat of arrest in Britain by taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he lived in isolation until 2019. When Ecuador refused him further residence, Assange was arrested and has been in prison in the British capital ever since. Since then, Assange and his supporters have been fighting against the threat of extradition to the USA, where he faces life imprisonment. A final decision from the responsible court is still pending.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
