One of the most polarizing and influential figures of the information age, Julian Assange is now free after five years in a British prison and seven years in self-imposed exile in a London embassy.

Before he emerged as an eccentric internet publisher of state secrets, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange experienced an itinerant childhood and attended dozens of schools, becoming a computer hacker as a teenager.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been sentenced to time already served in Britain as part of a plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that secures his freedom.

The guilty plea by WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange brings a stunning end to a long-running saga of international intrigue that spanned multiple continents and has had as its central character a quixotic internet publisher with a disdain for government secrets.

A London court is due to rule whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can challenge extradition to the United States on espionage charges.

A London court is due to rule whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can challenge extradition to the United States on espionage charges.

Australia's prime minister has expressed frustration at the United States’ continuing efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has rejected calls for him to publicly demand the United States drop its prosecution of WikiLeaks founder and Australian citizen Julian Assange.

Britain’s top court has refused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange permission to appeal against a decision to extradite him to the U.S. to face spying charges.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has won the first stage of his effort to overturn a U.K. ruling that opened the door for his extradition to U.S. to stand trial on espionage charges.

Britain’s High Court is set to rule on whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can take his fight against U.S. extradition to the U.K. Supreme Court.

A British appellate court has opened the door for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States.

Britain’s High Court has granted the U.S. government permission to appeal a decision that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange cannot be sent to the United States to face espionage charges.

A Julian Assange supporter reacts outside the Westminster Magistrates Court after Julian Assange was denied bail at a hearing in the court in London, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. On Monday Judge Vanessa Baraitser ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON – A British judge on Wednesday denied bail to WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange, ordering him to remain in a high-security prison while U.K. courts decide whether he will be sent to the United States to face espionage charges. It is illogical.”Several dozen Assange supporters gathered outside London's Westminster Magistrates' Court, shouting “Free Assange.” Police said seven people were arrested for breaching coronavirus lockdown rules. In 2012, Assange jumped bail and sought refuge inside the Ecuadorian Embassy, where he was beyond the reach of U.K. and Swedish authorities — but also effectively was a prisoner in the tiny diplomatic mission.

A British judge has rejected the United States request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to face espionage charges, saying it would be oppressive because of his mental health. "I find that the mental condition of Mr. Assange is such that it would be oppressive to extradite him to the United States of America," the judge said. Lawyers for the U.S. government said they would appeal the decision, and the U.S. Department of Justice said it would continue to seek Assange’s extradition. “While we are extremely disappointed in the court’s ultimate decision, we are gratified that the United States prevailed on every point of law raised," it said in a statement. “We hope that after consideration of the U.K. court’s ruling, the United States will decide not to pursue the case further," he said.

(AP Photo/Amel Emric, file)LONDON – Julian Assange relayed how he “binge-watched” the suicide of the former Bosnian Croat general in a U.N. courtroom three years ago, a doctor who visited the WikiLeaks founder on several occasions while he was in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London told an extradition hearing Thursday. Psychologist Nigel Blackwood, who assessed Assange at Belmarsh, rebutted defense experts on the extent of Assange’s condition, saying his suicide risk was “manageable." “I think there is some risk of suicide but that risk has to be carefully managed at Belmarsh," he said. Noting that Assange has been “highly functioning to a very high level in running a very successful organization." “I think there is some risk of suicide attempt linked to extradition, but not substantial risk,” he told the court.

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange take part in a protest outside the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in London, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. The London court hearing on Assange's extradition from Britain to the United States resumed Monday after a COVID-19 test on one of the participating lawyers came back negative, WikiLeaks said Friday. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON – A lawyer for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has told a London court that her client was indirectly offered a “win-win” deal by President Donald Trump that would see him avoid extradition to the U.S. if he revealed the source of a leak of documents from the Democratic Party before the 2016 election. James Lewis, a lawyer acting on behalf of the U.S. government, said it wasn't contesting that “these things” were said. Assange has been in a British prison since his ejection from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in April 2019.

Supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange take part in a protest outside the Central Criminal Court, the Old Bailey, in London, Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)LONDON – An American constitutional law expert said Thursday that the United States indicted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under an “extraordinarily broad” spying law that has been used in the past for politically motivated prosecutions. Leaker Daniel Ellsberg faced 12 Espionage Act charges and faced up to 115 years in prison, but the charges were dismissed in 1973 because of government misconduct against him. He said it was not relevant to his analysis of the Espionage Act, and noted he was a very junior lawyer at the time. He disagreed with a suggestion by a prosecution lawyer that Assange took a “cavalier attitude” to redaction.

WikiLeaks said the case is now set to continue on Monday. Assange is fighting American prosecutors’ attempt to get the British government to send him to the U.S. to stand trial on spying charges. The extradition hearing at London’s Old Bailey criminal court is scheduled to last until early October. U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. Assange’s lawyers say the prosecution is a politically motivated abuse of power that will stifle press freedom and put journalists around the world at risk.

Julian Assange supporters protest outside the Old Bailey in London, Monday, Sept. 7, 2020. Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the U.S. government were squaring off in a London court on Monday at a high-stakes extradition case delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. American prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over the WikiLeaks publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. U.S. prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over WikiLeaks publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. The hearing started Monday at Londons Old Bailey criminal court and is scheduled to last about a month.

A billboard truck depicting Julian Assange drives past the Central Criminal Court Old Bailey in London, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2020. American prosecutors have indicted the 49-year-old Australian on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges over Wikileaks' publication of secret U.S. military documents a decade ago. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)LONDON A British judge told WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday that his extradition hearing will proceed without him if he continues to speak from the dock and interrupt witnesses. Vanessa Baraitser briefly adjourned the hearing at Londons Central Criminal Court after Assange interrupted defense witness Clive Stafford Smith, who was giving evidence. Assange is fighting an attempt by American prosecutors to extradite him to the U.S. to stand trial on spying charges.

Partner of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Stella Moris, holds up a Julian Assange press card outside the gates of Downing Street, in Westminster, London, after attempting to deliver a Reporters Without Borders petition against the extradition of her partner to the US. Lawyers for Assange and the U.S. government will face off in London on Monday at an extradition hearing that was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. (Dominic Lipinski/PA via AP)LONDON Lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and the U.S. government were squaring off in a London court on Monday at a high-stakes extradition case delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. Assanges lawyers say the prosecution is a politically motivated abuse of power that will stifle press freedom and put journalists around the world at risk. The WikiLeaks founder was due to be brought from Belmarsh Prison on the outskirts of London to court for the hearing.

August 2010: Swedish prosecutors issue arrest warrant for Assange based on one womans allegation of rape and anothers allegation of molestation. November 2010: Swedish police issue an international arrest warrant for Assange. July 2014: Assange loses his bid to have an arrest warrant issued in Sweden against him canceled. May 1, 2019: Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for jumping bail in 2012. June 25, 2020: US files new indictment against Assange that prosecutors say underscores Assanges efforts to procure and release classified information.

The data, dating back to 1996, include emails, audio and video files and police and FBI intelligence reports. DDoSecrets founder Emma Best said the data, dubbed BlueLeaks, comes from more than 200 agencies. Best said that DDoSecrets obtained the data from an outside individual who sympathized with nationwide protests against police killings of unarmed Black people. One U.S. law enforcement agency affected by the breach is the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy. She said Netsential had scores of clients in law enforcement, where it was a strong niche provider.

The Justice Department says a federal grand jury has returned a new indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange that does not include new charges but broadens the scope of conduct that the government believes broke the law. The department announced the new charges Wednesday against Assange, who was arrested in the United Kingdom last year and remains jailed there. The U.S. is seeking his extradition to face an 18-count indictment that accuses him of conspiring with U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password, hack into a Pentagon computer and release hundreds of thousands of secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.