Here’s a look at the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Personal:
Birth date: July 3, 1971
Birth place: Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Father: John Shipton
Mother: Christine (Hawkins) Assange
Other Facts:
When he was a year old, his mother married Brett Assange, who adopted Julian.
Guest-starred as himself on the 500th episode of The Simpsons, in 2012. He recorded his lines over the phone from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he has been granted asylum.
Timeline:
2006 – WikiLeaks is founded by Assange.
2007 – WikiLeaks posts the procedures manual for Camp Delta, the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay.
September 2008 – WikiLeaks posts emails from vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s Yahoo account.
April 5, 2010 – WikiLeaks posts a video showing a US military helicopter firing on and killing two journalists and several Iraqi civilians in 2007. The military claims that the helicopter crew believed the targets were armed insurgents, not civilians.
July 25, 2010 – WikiLeaks posts more than 90,000 classified documents related to the Afghanistan war.
August 20, 2010 – Swedish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Assange based on allegations of sexual assault from two female WikiLeaks volunteers.
August 21, 2010 – The Swedish prosecutor’s office announces it is rescinding the arrest warrant.
August 31, 2010 – Assange is questioned by Stockholm police and told of the charges against him.
October 22, 2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified military documents from the Iraq war.
November 20, 2010 – The Stockholm Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Assange.
November 28, 2010 – WikiLeaks begins publishing diplomatic cables from US embassies. The site says the documents will be released in stages “over the next few months.”
December 7, 2010 – Turns himself in to London authorities. Assange is remanded in custody.
December 16, 2010 – Is released on bail and put on house arrest.
February 24, 2011 – A judge rules in support of Assange’s extradition to Sweden. Assange’s lawyers file an appeal.
April 24, 2011 – WikiLeaks begins releasing classified military documents providing details on the behavior and treatment of detainees being held at the US Navy’s detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
September 2, 2011 – WikiLeaks releases its archive of more than a quarter million US diplomatic cables.
November 2, 2011 – Appeals court judges in London rule in favor of Assange being extradited to Sweden.
November 15, 2011 – The UK Judicial Office announces Assange has applied to take his appeal against extradition to Sweden to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom.
May 30, 2012 – The British Supreme Court denies Assange’s appeal against extradition to Sweden, but grants him two weeks to file an appeal. This is unusual, because rulings are supposed to be final.
August 16, 2012 – Ecuador announces it has granted asylum to Assange.
August 19, 2012 – Makes a public address from the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, demanding that the United States drop its “witch-hunt” against WikiLeaks.
September 26, 2012 – Delivers a speech via satellite to a full conference room at the United Nations, asking the US government to end its actions against him and his website. The event was held by the Mission of Ecuador on UN grounds, but was not officially sponsored by the world body.
November 2012 – Assange’s book, “Cypherpunks: Freedom and the Future of the Internet,” is published.
February 10, 2015 – Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe tells LBC Radio the operation guarding Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London is “sucking our resources in” as costs spiral to more than 10 million pounds ($15.3 million).
May 11, 2015 – The Swedish Supreme Court denies Assange’s latest appeal to dismiss an arrest warrant for allegations of sexual assault.
July 3, 2015 – France rejects Assange’s request for “protection” after he publishes an open letter in national newspaper Le Monde.
August 13, 2015 – Swedish prosecutors announce they are dropping allegations involving sexual molestation and coercion as statutes of limitations in the investigation run out this month. However, the allegation of suspicion of rape still stands, and he may be investigated until 2020, Swedish prosecutors have said.
February 5, 2016 – A UN rights working group says its investigation found that Assange is being arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom.
May 25, 2016 – A Swedish court upholds the arrest warrant for Assange, with a Swedish prosecutor saying there’s still probable cause to prosecute him on a rape allegation and that “the risk of him evading justice is still large.”
July 22, 2016 – WikiLeaks releases nearly 20,000 emails from Democratic National Committee staffers. The leaked emails appear to show the committee favoring presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders during the US presidential primary. On July 29, Assange tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the email release was timed to coincide with the start of the Democratic National Convention.
September 15, 2016 – WikiLeaks announces via Twitter that “If Obama grants Manning clemency, Assange will agree to US prison in exchange, despite its clear unlawfulness,” referring to Chelsea Manning, the imprisoned former Army intelligence analyst convicted of violating the Espionage Act.
September 16, 2016 – A Swedish appeals court states again that the arrest warrant for Assange on allegations of rape still stands. This is the eighth time the European arrest warrant has been tested in a Swedish court. All eight judgments have gone against Assange.
November 14, 2016 – WikiLeaks tweets that Assange is giving a statement in the presence of a Swedish prosecutor regarding allegations he sexually assaulted two women in the country six years ago.
January 3, 2017 – During an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, Assange says that the Russian government was not the source of the hacked DNC emails. He also denies talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin and says he did not have contact with the campaign for President-elect Donald Trump.
April 20, 2017 – Attorney General Jeff Sessions announces that the Department of Justice is preparing charges for Assange, and that his arrest is a “priority.”
May 19, 2017 – Swedish prosecutors drop their investigation of rape allegations against Assange, ending a nearly seven-year legal impasse.
December 12, 2017 – Becomes a naturalized citizen of Ecuador.