On the run
The New York Times detailed how Julian Assange instructs his friends to use encrypted mobiles, changes his number frequently, checks into hotels under false names, dyes his hair and only uses cash in a bid to remain independent.
He told the newspaper: "By being determined to be on this path, and not to compromise, I've wound up in an extraordinary situation," and said the next few weeks would be his most ‘hazardous' yet as the whistleblower site will leak 391,832 secret documents on the controversial Iraq war.
Assange changed the whistle blowing game in 2006 when he put his computer hacking past to bed to start WikiLeaks, collecting secrets and storing them so governments cannot get their hands on them, before making them available to the world.
While he had been heralded as champion of freedom of speech, some of Assange's comrades have reportedly deserted him after WikiLeaks published a bunch of documents containing details of the Afghan war, controversially including the names of intelligence sources, which critics warned could put the informers in danger.
Birgitta Jonsdottir, an important WikiLeaks volunteer and member of Iceland's Parliament, reportedly said: "We were very, very upset with that, and with the way he spoke about it afterwards. If he could just focus on the important things he does, it would be better."
Some of the WikiLeaks party are believed to be unimpressed with Assange's ego and erratic behaviour, as well as the fact he is reportedly being investigated in connection with accusations of the rape of two Swedish women, which he has denied.
While he branded the investigation ‘a smear campaign,' Assange is also on the run from the Pentagon, which has demanded he ‘return' all US government documents and promise not to publish any more.
He has reportedly since tried to find refuge in several countries, seeking a residence permit in Sweden, where fans called him ‘the James Bond of journalism' while a trio of encrypted laptops are believed to have gone missing or ‘intercepted' on a flight from Berlin to London. The newspaper reported an Australian official told Assange, who is an Australian national: "You play outside the rules, and you will be dealt with outside the rules."
