Julian Assange: Timeline of WikiLeaks founder’s legal battles
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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is expected to be sentenced to time served and allowed to return home to Australia.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has reached a deal to plead guilty to one count of violating the US espionage law, prosecutors said in court papers on June 24.
He is due to appear in a US federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands this week, where he is expected to be sentenced to time served and allowed to return home to Australia.
Here are some key events and details in his life:
July 1971 - Assange is born in Townsville, Australia, to parents involved in theatre. As a teenager, he gains a reputation as a computer programmer. In 1995, he is fined for computer hacking but avoids prison on the condition that he does not offend again.
2006 - He founds WikiLeaks, creating an internet-based “dead letter drop” for leakers of classified or sensitive information.
April 5, 2010 - WikiLeaks releases leaked video from a US helicopter showing an air strike that killed civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.
July 25, 2010 - WikiLeaks releases more than 91,000 documents, mostly secret US military reports about the Afghanistan war.
October, 2010 - WikiLeaks releases hundreds of thousands of classified military files chronicling the Iraq war. It also releases thousands of US diplomatic cables, including candid views of foreign leaders and blunt assessments of security threats.
Nov 18, 2010 - A Swedish court orders Assange’s arrest on sex crime allegations, which he denies. He is arrested in Britain the next month on a European arrest warrant but freed on bail.
February 2011 - London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court orders his extradition to Sweden. He appeals.
June 14, 2012 - The British Supreme Court rejects Assange’s final appeal. Five days later, he takes refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London and seeks political asylum, which Ecuador grants in August 2012.
May 19, 2017 - Swedish prosecutors discontinue their investigation, saying it is impossible to proceed while Assange is in the Ecuadorean embassy.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange raises his fist prior to addressing the media on the balcony of the Embassy of Ecuador in London, on May 19, 2017.
PHOTO: AFP
April 11, 2019 - After Ecuador revokes his political asylum, Assange is carried out of the embassy and arrested. He is sentenced on May 1 to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail. He completes the sentence early but remains in jail pending extradition hearings.
May 13, 2019 - Swedish prosecutors reopen their investigation and say they will seek Assange’s extradition.
June 11, 2019 - The US Justice Department formally asks Britain to extradite Assange to the United States to face charges that he conspired to hack US government computers and violated an espionage law.
Nov 19, 2019 - Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation, saying the evidence is not strong enough to bring charges, in part because of the passage of time.
Feb 21, 2020 - A London court begins the first part of extradition hearings.
Jan 4, 2021 - A British judge rules that Assange should not be extradited to the US to face criminal charges, saying his mental health problems mean he would be at risk of suicide.
Dec 10, 2021 - The US wins an appeal against the ruling after a judge says he is satisfied with a US package of assurances about the conditions of Assange’s detention.
March 14, 2022 - Britain’s Supreme Court denies Assange permission to appeal against the decision to extradite him to the US.
March 23, 2022 - Assange marries his long-term partner Stella Moris – the mother of his two children fathered inside the Ecuadorean embassy – inside a British high-security prison.
Stella Assange, the wife of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, addresses supporters outside The Royal Courts of Justice, Britain’s High Court, in central London, on May 20, 2024.
PHOTO: AFP
June 17, 2022 - Britain orders Assange’s extradition to the United States, prompting him to appeal.
June, 2023 - A judge at London’s High Court rules Assange has no legal grounds to appeal.
Feb 20, 2024 - Assange launches what his supporters say will be his final attempt to prevent extradition.
March 26, 2024 - The extradition is put on hold when the court says the US must provide assurances that Assange will not face a potential death penalty.
May 20, 2024 - The High Court gives Assange permission to launch a full appeal
June 24, 2024 - The US Justice Department and Assange reveal a deal in which he will plead guilty to one criminal count and be sentenced to time served. REUTERS
