Sarah Harrison (journalist)


Sarah Harrison is a former WikiLeaks section editor. She worked with the WikiLeaks Legal Defense and has been described as Julian Assange's closest adviser. Harrison accompanied National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden on a high-profile flight from Hong Kong to Moscow while he was sought by the United States government.

WikiLeaks

As an intern at the UK-based Centre for Investigative Journalism, she was assigned to Julian Assange before the Afghan War documents leak. After Daniel Domscheit-Berg left WikiLeaks over a dispute with Assange, Harrison's role in the organisation increased, particularly with the embassy cable publication and Assange's legal fight against Swedish extradition. Harrison is a former WikiLeaks section editor. She worked with the WikiLeaks Legal Defense led by Baltasar Garzón, and was Julian Assange's closest adviser. In 2014, Harrison spoke about her support for WikiLeaks, saying "the greatest unaccountable power of today the United States and our Western democracies."
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 24 June 2013, WikiLeaks said that Harrison accompanied National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden on a high-profile flight from Hong Kong to Moscow en route to political asylum from US extradition. Dominic Rushe of The Guardian 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 after he was granted a year of temporary asylum. She is interviewed in Citizenfour, which documents Snowden and his flight to Moscow.

Award

Harrison received the Willy Brandt Peace Prize in 2015.