Espionage, extradition and Wikileaks: Julian Assange’s rise and fall ahead of his final court battle

By Rachel Dixon, ITV News Multimedia Producer

Julian Assange’s time in the UK could be over, as a two-day court case starting on Tuesday, may send the Wikileaks founder to the United States – where he faces an uncertain future.

Assange has always divided opinion.

He is seen by some as the figure head of free speech, after he published documents which exposed wrongdoing by organisations including governments and the US army.

But in the US he has been declared an “enemy of the state” and to others he is viewed as a dangerous hacker who put people’s lives at risk.

A litany of court cases and accusations, from espionage charges to sexual abuse claims, have led to next week’s pivotal court case.

Assange has been forced into hiding for many years to dodge Washington’s attempts to extradite him to face charges under its espionage act.

His wife Stella Assange warned her husband “will die” if he is sent to the US, while speaking at a press conference on Wednesday.

Here’s how Assange went from a high-profile hacker to a prisoner.

Who is Julian Assange?

Even Assange’s childhood in Australia is shrouded in mystery and conspiracy.

His shock of white hair has led many people to believe he grew up in doomsday cult, The Family, which followed leader Anne Hamilton-Byrne’s every word.

She allegedly forced followers, including children, to take dangerous amounts of LSD and other hallucinogens as part of prolonged initiation ceremonies, one survivor told The Guardian in 2016.

Assange quickly became an accomplished computer hacker, and aged 20 he led a group which repeatedly worked their way into Australia’s National University’s computer systems.

Julian Assange in a prison van. Credit: PA

The rise of WikiLeaks

Assange’s hacking led to the creation of notorious website Wikileaks in 2006 – the platform he and his associates used to publish classified information.

His exposés started with documents allegedly showing tax evasion by clients of Swiss bank Julius Baer.

Wikileaks gained global notoriety in 2010, when Assange released over 391,000 unredacted reports which cover the war in Iraq and Afghanistan from 2004 to 2009.

This included Assange’s first headline hitting video, which showed a US airstrike in Baghdad that killed 18 people, including civilians and two Reuters journalists, during the Iraq war, filmed from a helicopter cockpit.

Some of the war files were reportedly passed to him by US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, on a CD she disguised as a collection of Lady Gaga songs.

Lady Gaga with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Credit: ITV File pics / www.gagadaily.com

The files, which were also published extensively by the Guardian, listed civilian deaths, torture of enemy fighters by the US, and evidence American special forces hunted down Taliban leaders for “kill or capture” without trial.

He then leaked thousands of messages between US diplomats, including Hilary Clinton.

His action were said to have prompted the Arab Spring protests in Tunisia, plus uprisings across five countries, including in Libya where dictator Colonel Gaddafi was ousted and killed.

Assange goes into hiding

While many hailed his leaks as fighting for free speech, Assange faced huge criticism for putting people’s lives at risk, as the unredacted files revealed the names of local Afghans and Iraqis who passed information to US forces.

Opinion also began to turn against Assange, after two women from Sweden alleged he sexually assaulted them during a trip to speak at a conference in the country.

He spent seven years inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, after being granted political asylum, to avoid extradition to Sweden to face the courts for the claims.

Assange has always denied the allegations and in 2019 Sweden dropped its investigation because too much time had elapsed since the accusation was made.

He continued to hide in the embassy, fearing he would be extradited to the US to face 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse.

While hiding out, Assange had a number of high profile guests and supporters including pop superstar Lady Gaga, Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson, and the late fashion designer Vivienne Westwood.

Baywatch actor Pamela Anderson wore a blanket covered in messages of support for Mr Assange. She visited him in Belmarsh prison. Credit: PA

The court case and where is Assange now?

Assange has been in London’s Belmarsh prison since he was dragged out of the Ecuadorian Embassy by police in 2019 for breaching his bail conditions.

Assange faces a two-day hearing, starting on Tuesday in the High Court in London, over whether he should be granted a full appeal to challenge his extradition.

A bearded Julian Assange as seen in August 2015 as he marked three years inside the Ecuadorian embassy. Credit: PA Wire

If he loses, he will have exhausted all judicial remedies in England and his supporters fear he could be swiftly sent to the US before he could appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

At a media briefing in central London on Thursday morning, Stella Assange said her husband could be on a plane to the US “within days”.

His supporters say the Australian national faces 175 years in prison if he is extradited.

If his appeal is unsuccessful, Mrs Assange said her husband would apply to the ECHR for a Rule 39 order to stop extradition while it considers his case.

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