Julian Assange - 10 years later, how did we get here? This research was completed as part of the Churcher’s to Campus (C2C) courses
Molly Steele Upper Sixth
Julian Assange and his cat (officially known as Embassy Cat on Twitter)
In 2010, the founder of WikiLeaks Julian Assange, was involved in what is considered one of the largest releases of unauthorised information in history. In the ten years since the event, he and his company have become wrapped in controversy; his supporters argue that his work is for the public interest, whereas his critics argue his work undermines national security. Having faced two extradition requests (one from Sweden, one from the US), and spent nearly seven years in London’s Ecuadorian embassy, Assange still has not faced trial in the US for his involvement in the 2010 WikiLeaks Scandal. WikiLeaks has continued to release private or unauthorised documents and information, including significant Vatican documents and the emails of Hillary Clinton. The 2010 WikiLeaks Scandal During the late part of 2009, Chelsea Manning, a US army intelligence analyst, contacted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with the intention of releasing classified information about the US government and armed forces to the public. In February 2010, WikiLeaks published a diplomatic cable from the US embassy in Iceland, marking the flood of classified information and documents that would go on to be considered the largest release of unauthorised information in history (Ray, 2020). This included over 250,000 embassy cables, war-related activity reports for Afghanistan and Iraq (90,000 and 400,000 reports respectively), 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, as well as the contents of several secret-level military and intelligence documents, including CIA detainee
interrogation videos and rules of engagement for Iraq and Afghanistan (Terwilliger, 2019).
to face trial in the US for 18 counts [see appendix 1], the most serious of which are espionage and theft (BBC News, 2019) (The United States Department of Justice, 2019), which may result in up to 175 years in prison (Presse, 2019).
Many of the cables exposed the darker side of international diplomacy, including the names of Saudi donors who were the biggest financiers of terror groups; conversations in which US officials were being instructed to spy on UN leadership; evidence of Arab leaders privately urging the US to do an airstrike on Iran; and an agreement between Washington and Yemen to cover up the use of US planes to bomb al-Qaida targets (Leigh, 2010). One of the most famous leaks occurred in April 2010, when WikiLeaks released footage of possible US war crimes, whereby US soldiers in a helicopter shot dead 18 civilians in Iraq (BBC News, 2019).
Amnesty International believes that the charges against Assange should be dropped: the non-governmental organisation believes that the act of publicising disclosed documents should not be punishable as it “mirrors the conduct that investigative journalists undertake regularly in their professional capacity” (Amnesty International, 2020).
The US Department of Justice argues that the leaks not only threatened the national security of the US but also noted the significant danger this put many individuals in: the leaks included the names of human sources for US intelligence, including local Afghans and Iraqis, journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates and political dissidents from repressive regimes (The United States Department of Justice, 2019).
Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State who previously served as CIA Director, believes it is time to “call out WikiLeaks for what it really is – a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia” and attorney-general Jeff Sessions announced that Assange’s arrest was a priority (BBC News, 2017). However, during the 2016 US election race, Donald Trump praised WikiLeaks following the release of the Democratic National Committee emails, including those of Hillary Clinton. Furthermore, Assange claims that Trump offered to grant him clemency if he denied WikiLeaks had links to Russia (Borger & Bowcott, 2020). Evidence has also been released by the FBI that suggests Roger Stone, a political strategist and associate of Donald Trump, exchanged private messages with Assange whereby he offered to support Assange if he was tried in the US (Goodwin, 2020).
Many of the cables exposed the darker side of international diplomacy.
Manning was arrested in May 2010, and in July 2013 was sentenced to 35 years in prison for multiple charges, including espionage and theft (Ray, 2020). After the Swedish government issued a request to extradite Assange in 2010, he claimed diplomatic immunity in 2012, and for nearly seven years remained in London’s Ecuadorian embassy. In April 2019, this right was revoked and he was arrested; he was then sentenced in May for breaching his bail conditions (Taylor, 2019). Assange is in Belmarsh Prison in the UK, and is yet 12
Assange’s UK trial started in February this year, but has yet to progress beyond the first hearing due to coronavirus (Holden, 2020). A Summary of Events There are four strands to Julian Assange’s story: the WikiLeaks Scandal and repercussions with US government (red), Sweden and its two charges against Assange for sexual molestation and rape (purple), Assange’s relationship with
