WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has alienated and infuriated a lot of people over the years, not least the British and U.S. authorities that oversaw his arrest and indictment last week. But he’s also managed to accumulate an eccentric group of close friends and supporters, and many of these folks are back in the news as Assange faces extradition to the U.S. on a charge of computer hacking related to WikiLeaks obtaining classified military documents in 2010. As Assange’s longtime confidantes call for his release, here is a look at the cast of characters surrounding the anti-privacy activist. Chelsea Manning Although Assange and Manning have never met in person, the two have a significant history that goes back to 2010. Manning, then a private in the U.S. Army, downloaded classified military information early that year and uploaded it to the WikiLeaks site. Assange then contacted Manning and the two began a frequent correspondence that resulted in Manning sending WikiLeaks a trove of additional classified documents that included diplomatic cables and war reports from Afghanistan and Iraq. Manning pleaded guilty in 2013 to a variety of charges related to the leak, including espionage. In her statement of guilt, Manning detailed how she and Assange ― who was using the pseudonym Nathaniel Frank ― would message on a near-daily basis as they worked together and developed a friendship. But Manning said she later realized that in retrospect their friendly conversations were artificial and that she valued them more than Assange. Manning, who was released from prison in 2017, is now back in jail after refusing a subpoena to testify to a grand jury that is investigating WikiLeaks. Rafael Correa Correa, who served as Ecuador’s president from 2007 to 2017, was one of Assange’s most powerful protectors while he was in office. Correa granted asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London to Assange in 2012, setting up a protracted fight with British and U.S. officials who sought to extradite him. Although Correa defended Assange’s asylum as a matter of press freedom and human rights, many critics pointed out Correa’s own intimidation of the media in Ecuador as proof that his embrace of Assange was more of a political ploy to gain domestic support by defying the U.S. and Britain. Correa consistently defended Assange throughout his presidency, but his successor, Lenin Moreno, was far less sympathetic to Assange’s plight. Moreno ultimately grew tired of defending Assange and decided to give the WikiLeaks founder up to British authorities. Correa, meanwhile, remains a vocal supporter of Assange and called Moreno the “greatest traitor in Ecuadorian and Latin American history” for allowing his arrest.

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Pamela Anderson Former “Baywatch” star and animal rights activist Pamela Anderson is one of Assange’s most famous and vocal supporters. She visited him multiple times during his asylum in London, blogged about him and lauded his work in interviews. Anderson met Assange through mutual friend and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, and reporters first noticed her visiting the embassy in 2014. Their meetings were an easy tabloid target, and there was widespread media speculation that they had begun a romantic relationship. Anderson declined to elaborate on the specifics their relationship, but has said she saw him frequently and the two were extremely close. “Julian Assange is the most intelligent, interesting, and informed man in existence. Yes — I think he’s quite sexy,” Anderson wrote in a poem on her blog in 2017. Anderson is a frequent defender of Assange, both against a Swedish woman’s allegation that he raped her in 2010 and the criminal charges he faces. After his arrest last week, Anderson tweeted heated criticisms of the U.K., the U.S. and Ecuador for their roles in Assange’s arrest.

I am in shock..

I couldn’t hear clearly what he said?

He looks very bad.

How could you Equador ?

(Because he exposed you).

How could you UK. ?

Of course - you are America’s bitch and

you need a diversion from your idiotic Brexit bullshit. — Pamela Anderson (@pamfoundation) April 11, 2019

Vaughan Smith British police arrested Assange in 2010 after Swedish authorities announced they wanted to extradite the WikiLeaks founder for questioning after two women accused Assange of sex crimes. When Assange was released on bail, however, wealthy libertarian and video journalist Vaughn Smith offered him residence at his sprawling manor while the courts heard Assange’s extradition appeal. Assange took refuge at Smith’s for several months in 2011, before he sought asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London a year later. Smith is a former British army officer who founded the Frontline Club, a gathering place for media figures in London where Assange often hung out and took temporary residence before his legal troubles escalated. Since Assange’s arrest, Smith has done a round of media appearances criticizing the Ecuadorian officials for ending their protection and calling for his friend’s release. Kristinn Hrafnsson Hrafnsson, a spokesperson for WikiLeaks since 2010, became the site’s editor-in-chief last year after Assange’s internet privileges were revoked at the Ecuadorian embassy. Hrafnsson was an investigative journalist in Iceland and joined up with WikiLeaks after the anti-secrecy organization gained support in his home country following its exposure of an Icelandic banking scandal. After Assange’s arrest in 2010, Hrafnsson took on a greater role at WikiLeaks as the site’s primary media contact. As his official title has changed over the years, he’s been a staunch ally of Assange and vowed in recent days to continue WikiLeaks’ work regardless of how the charges facing its founder play out. Jennifer Robinson Robinson has been Assange’s personal lawyer since early 2010, months before WikiLeaks gained international recognition for publishing Manning’s stolen documents. Robinson is an Australian human rights lawyer and Rhodes scholar who previously worked as a legal advocate for the rights of West Papuan people in Indonesia. Since Assange’s arrest in 2010 and throughout his subsequent legal troubles, Robinson has been one of the WikiLeaks founder’s most prominent defenders and repeatedly condemned U.S. attempts at extradition as an attack on free speech and press freedom.

Reuters Baltasar Garzon has been a longtime legal advocate for Assange.