The Most Dangerous Man in the World

In June 2024, after fourteen years of house arrest and incarceration, Julian Assange, the Australian journalist the CIA had planned to kidnap or kill, was finally released from the UK’s top security Belmarsh prison.

Years of campaigning by his family and Australian politicians from across the political spectrum had finally paid off: Assange’s plea bargain with the US Department of Justice produced the legal deal of the century. Instead of serving a possible 175-year jail sentence, Assange walked free.

What changed former US President Joe Biden’s mind after years of appeals and hearings? When WikiLeaks revealed evidence of American war crimes in Iraq, Biden had called Assange a ‘high tech terrorist’. Why did Biden now believe the time was right to end the pursuit and to cut a deal?

Andrew Fowler takes us inside the negotiations with the White House, revealing a startling story of false hope, courage, resolve and the extraordinary resilience of the person Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg called the Most Dangerous Man in the World.

About the Author

Andrew Fowler is an award-winning investigative journalist and a former reporter for the ABC’s Foreign Correspondent and Four Corners programs. Fowler began his journalism career in the UK in the early 1970s, and has been the chief of staff and acting foreign editor of The Australian. The Most Dangerous Man in the World was first published in 2011 and updated in 2012 and 2020. Fowler’s interview with Julian Assange in 2010 for Foreign Correspondent won the New York Festival Gold Medal. His other books are The War on Journalism (2015), Shooting the Messenger: Criminalising Journalism (2017) and Nuked: The Submarine Fiasco that Sank Australia’s Sovereignty (2024). Fowler is a winner of the United Nations Peace Prize, has lectured on journalism at universities in Australia and the UK, and has contributed to various academic papers.