Julian Assange is an Australian journalist, programmer, and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website he co-founded in 2006. WikiLeaks helps to publish anonymous submissions and leak sensitive documents from governments and other organizations to the public. It has a core focus on protecting dissidents, whistleblowers, investigative journalists, and bloggers who face state threats. In 2010, WikiLeaks published a cache of thousands of diplomatic cables, catapulting Assange into the center of a debate about transparency and security in the 21st century. He was awarded Amnesty International’s 2009 Media Award for exposing extrajudicial assassinations. He is also the recipient of the 2008 Economist Index on Censorship Award. As the spokesman for WikiLeaks, Assange has appeared in numerous media outlets, including CNN, Al Jazeera English, and MSNBC. Julian Assange is currently being held at Belmarsh, a high-security prison in the United Kingdom, on the basis of a United States extradition request on charges that stem directly from the publication of disclosed documents as part of his work with WikiLeaks.
