Julian Assange: the WikiLeaks founder’s fight for freedom – in pictures
Assange has been released from prison after striking a deal with the US justice department. We look back at his life so far, including his time in custody, his interactions with supporters and celebrities at the Ecuadorian embassy in London – and the global protests calling for his freedom
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Julian Assange aged 23 outside Victoria’s county court in Melbourne in 1995 after being accused of hacking.
Photograph: Ian Kenins/The Age
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Assange and German activist Daniel Domscheit-Berg at the Chaos Computer Club conference in Berlin in 2009.
Photograph: Wikimedia Commons/Andy Mcgee
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Assange speaks to reporters at the Frontline Club in central London in 2010.
Photograph: Andrew Winning/REUTERS
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Assange walks out of London’s royal courts of justice after a successful bail appeal in the high court in December 2010.
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
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A figure of Assange in a Neapolitan nativity scene by Gennaro Di Virgilio in Naples in December 2010.
Photograph: ITALY/REUTERS
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Assange arrives at Beccles police station in Suffolk in England’s east on 17 December 2010.
Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty Images
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Assange speaks to the media at Ellingham Hall in Norfolk, where he was staying as part of his bail conditions, in December 2010.
Photograph: Chris Radburn/PA
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Assange arrives at Belmarsh magistrates court in London in February 2011.
Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
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Assange with his ankle security tag at the house where he was required to stay, near Bungay in England, in June 2011.
Photograph: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP
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Assange outside the royal courts of justice in London after losing his high court bid to block extradition to Sweden on sex crime allegations.
Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA
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Assange talks with his legal adviser Balthasar Garcon (second right) inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in August 2012.
Photograph: Sean Dempsey/PA
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Assange during a news conference with Ecuador’s foreign minister.
Photograph: John Stillwell/AP
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Assange with the US philosopher and writer Noam Chomsky on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2014.
Photograph: PA Images/Alamy
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The WikiLeaks editor in chief in 2015.
Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian
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Assange holds a copy of a UN ruling during a speech from the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in February 2016.
Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
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Pamela Anderson arrives at the Ecuadorian embassy to take some vegetarian burgers to Assange in November 2016.
Photograph: Danny Martindale/GC Images
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Assange holds up his kitten at the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2016. The kitten is a gift from Assange’s young children to keep him company.
Photograph: Reuters
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Assange in a leather jacket outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London in May 2017.
Photograph: Frank Augstein/AP
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London’s Belmarsh prison, where Assange was held for five years from 2019.
Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images
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UK newspaper front pages in April 2019 after Assange’s arrest.
Composite: Various
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Assange gestures to the media from a police vehicle on arrival at Westminster magistrates court in April 2019.
Photograph: Jack Taylor/Getty Images
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A pedestrian walks past graffiti calling for Assange’s freedom in London.
Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images
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Assange gestures from a prison van after being sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions in 2012.
Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images
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A billboard in Melbourne calls for the release of Assange.
Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images
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Assange leaves Westminster magistrates court in London in January 2020.
Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters
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Demonstrators protest in support of Assange outside the Old Bailey in London.
Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA
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Fashion designer Vivienne Westwood suspended in a cage in London in protest of the US extradition trial of Assange.
Photograph: Graeme Robertson/The Guardian
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The artist Ai Weiwei attends a demonstration demanding the release of Assange in Berlin in May 2019.
Photograph: Alexander Becher/EPA
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Assange’s wife Stella with sons Max and Gabriel before driving to Belmarsh prison to marry in March 2022.
Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
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Assange’s father John Shipton and brother Gabriel Shipton at Parliament House in Canberra in August 2022.
Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian
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The Don’t Extradite Assange campaign protests at the high court in London in February 2024.
Photograph: Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock
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A placard in London before Assange faced a hearing about his extradition to the US.
Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP
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Protesters in Canberra call on the Australian government to stop the prosecution of Assange in February 2024.
Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAP
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A portrait of Julian Assange during a Labour Day march in Brisbane in May 2024.
Photograph: Darren England/AAP
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A mural of Assange in Melbourne in June 2024.
Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images
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Assange on board a flight to Bangkok after his release from prison in the UK.
Photograph: @WikiLeaks/PA
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‘Assange is free’ is projected on the the facade of Maschio Angioino castle in Naples on Tuesday.
Photograph: Ciro Fusco/EPA
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Assange talks to former Australian PM Kevin Rudd at the US district courthouse in Saipan on Wednesday.
Photograph: Eugene Hoshiko/AP
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Assange arrives at the courthouse in Saipan, where he pleaded guilty to violating US espionage law in a deal that will see him return home to Australia.
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters
