Assange autobiography to be released today

The autobiography of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was to go on sale Thursday despite efforts by the Australian anti-secrecy campaigner to suppress the book, its British publisher said, according to AFP.

The book "Julian Assange: The Unauthorised Autobiography" reportedly includes his first direct comments on allegations of rape in Sweden that led to the former computer hacker fighting an extradition battle in Britain.

Publisher Canongate said Wednesday it was the first draft of Assange's autobiography as delivered to them in March 2011, and that they were going ahead with publication despite Assange's attempts to prevent them.

Extracts from the book appeared in Thursday's edition of British newspaper The Independent.

In the first published excerpts, Assange describes his early days as a hacker and his first run-ins with the law and claims that he may be autistic.

"When I became well known, people would enjoy pointing out that I had Asperger's or else that I was dangling somewhere on the autistic spectrum. Let's just say I am; all hackers are," one extract published in the Independent revealed.

Further passages document Assange's teenage experiences of hacking into the US government's defence network, describing it as "like being able to teleport yourself into the interior of the Pentagon in order to walk around and take charge."

The publisher said Assange had spent more than 50 hours sitting for interviews for the book at a friend's country house in eastern England where he is staying under strict bail conditions.