Sarah Harrison is a British former

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

section editor. She worked with the WikiLeaks' legal defence and has been described as

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

's closest adviser. Harrison accompanied

National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

Edward Snowden Edward Joseph Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence contractor and whistleblower who leaked classified documents revealing the existence of global surveillance programs. Born in 1983 in Elizabeth ...

on a high-profile flight from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

while he was sought by the United States government.

Early life

Sarah Harrison grew up with two younger sisters and attended a private school in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Her father, Ian Harrison, was an executive in the retail industry and her mother was a specialist in treating reading disabilities. Harrison studied English at

Queen Mary, University of London Queen Mary University of London (QMUL, or informally QM, and formerly Queen Mary and Westfield College) is a public research university in Mile End, East London, England. It is a member institution of the federal University of London. Today, ...

. In 2008, she took an internship at the nonprofit Centre for Investigative Journalism. In late 2009, she met Gavin MacFadyen while applying for an unpaid internship, who recommended her to WikiLeaks the next year. In 2010, she received a junior research position at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism in 2010.

WikiLeaks

As an intern at the UK-based Centre for Investigative Journalism, Harrison began working with WikiLeaks in August 2010 and was assigned to

before the

Afghan War documents leak The Afghan War documents leak, also called the Afghan War Diary, is a collection of internal U.S. military logs of the War in Afghanistan, which was published by WikiLeaks on 2010. The logs consist of over 91,000 Afghan War documents, covering ...

. The job was supposed to last two weeks, but evolved into a full staff position. After Daniel Domscheit-Berg left WikiLeaks over a dispute with Assange, Harrison's role in the organisation increased, particularly with the US diplomatic cables leak and Assange's legal fight against Swedish

extradition In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...

. She worked with the WikiLeaks' legal defence led by

Baltasar Garzón Baltasar Garzón Real (; born 26 October 1955) is a Spanish former judge in Spain's central criminal court, the '' Audiencia Nacional'' responsible for investigation the most serious criminal cases, including terrorism, organised crime, crimes ...

and Julian Assange's personal legal battles to avoid extradition to Sweden, and was Assange's girlfriend, closest adviser and gatekeeper. In 2014, Harrison spoke about her support for WikiLeaks, saying "the greatest unaccountable power of today sthe United States and our Western democracies." Harrison is a former WikiLeaks section editor. Harrison also served as acting director of Courage Foundation, a UK trust to support whistleblowers originally cofounded by Julian Assange as the Journalistic Source Protection Defence Fund, from 2014 until April 2017, when WikiLeaks became a Courage beneficiary.

Edward Snowden

On June 23,

leaker

boarded a commercial

Aeroflot PJSC AeroflotRussian Airlines (, ), commonly known as Aeroflot ( or ; , , ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Russia. Aeroflot is headquartered in the Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow, with its hub being Sheremetyevo Interna ...

flight, SU213, to Moscow, accompanied by Harrison of

, with an intended final destination of Ecuador due to an Ecuadorian emergency travel document that Snowden had acquired. However Snowden became initially stranded in Russia upon his landing in Moscow when his U.S. passport was revoked. On 24 June 2013, WikiLeaks said that Harrison accompanied Snowden on a high-profile flight from Hong Kong to Moscow en route to

political asylum The right of asylum, sometimes called right of political asylum (''asylum'' ), is a juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereignty, sovereign authority, such as a second country or ...

from US extradition. Dominic Rushe of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' observed that Harrison was a "strange choice" because of her lack of legal qualifications compared to other WikiLeaks staff, such as human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson. At the time, Harrison had been with the organisation for over two years. On 1 August 2013, she accompanied Snowden out of Moscow's

Sheremetyevo International Airport Sheremetyevo International Airport (, , Internal code: ШРМ) is one of four international airports that serve the city of Moscow. It is the busiest airport in Russia and the post-Soviet states, as well as the ninth-busiest airport in Euro ...

after he was granted a year of temporary asylum.

Exile from UK

In 2014, Harrison said she was living in

exile Exile or banishment is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

because she had received legal advice that she would very likely be detained under Schedule 7 of the UK's Terrorism Act on entry to the UK. Under the Act she could be asked to provide information about WikiLeaks’ and Snowden's sources and refusal to answer would be a crime. After an appeal ruling in January 2016, journalists were exempt from Schedule 7 and she visited London in September 2016.

Award

Harrison received the Willy Brandt Peace Prize in 2015.

References

External links

WikiLeaks profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrison, Sarah 1980s births British women journalists People associated with WikiLeaks Living people Alumni of City, University of London Alumni of Queen Mary University of London People educated at Sevenoaks School People from Kent Julian Assange Year of birth missing (living people)