Assange’s supporters see him as a logo of press freedom, whereas US officers accuse him of being an enemy of the state.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s authorized battle has resumed in the UK.
Listed below are some key occasions and particulars in his life thus far:
July 1971 – Assange is born in Townsville, Australia, to a mom and stepfather concerned in theatre. As a youngster, he features a status as a pc programmer, and in 1995 is fined for pc hacking however avoids jail on situation he doesn’t offend once more.
2006 – Founds WikiLeaks, creating an internet-based “lifeless letter drop” for leakers of categorised or delicate data.
April 5, 2010 – WikiLeaks releases leaked video from a US helicopter exhibiting an air raid that killed civilians in Baghdad, Iraq, together with two Reuters information company workers.
July 25, 2010 – WikiLeaks releases greater than 91,000 paperwork, largely secret US navy experiences concerning the Afghanistan conflict.
October 2010 – WikiLeaks releases 400,000 categorised navy information chronicling the Iraq conflict. The subsequent month, it releases 1000’s of US diplomatic cables, together with candid views of international leaders and blunt assessments of safety threats.
November 18, 2010 – A Swedish court docket orders Assange’s arrest over rape allegations, which he denies. He’s arrested within the UK the subsequent month on a European Arrest Warrant however freed on bail.
February 2011 – London’s Westminster Magistrates Courtroom orders Assange’s extradition to Sweden. He appeals.
June 14, 2012 – The British Supreme Courtroom rejects Assange’s ultimate enchantment and 5 days later he takes refuge in Ecuador’s embassy in London and seeks political asylum, which Ecuador grants in August 2012.
April 13, 2017 – US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, then CIA chief, describes WikiLeaks as “a non-state hostile intelligence service typically abetted by state actors like Russia”.
Could 19, 2017 – Swedish prosecutors discontinue their investigation, saying it’s not possible to proceed whereas Assange is within the Ecuadorean embassy.
April 11, 2019 – Assange is carried out of the embassy and arrested after Ecuador revokes his political asylum. He’s sentenced on Could 1 to 50 weeks in jail by a British court docket for skipping bail. He completes the sentence early however stays jailed pending extradition hearings.
Could 13, 2019 – Swedish prosecutors reopen their investigation and say they are going to search Assange’s extradition to Sweden.
June 11, 2019 – The US Justice Division formally asks Britain to extradite Assange to the US to face costs that he conspired to hack US authorities computer systems and violated an espionage regulation.
November 19, 2019 – Swedish prosecutors drop their rape investigation, saying the proof isn’t robust sufficient to deliver costs, partially due to the passage of time.
February 21, 2020 – A London court docket begins the primary a part of extradition hearings that are adjourned after every week. The hearings are imagined to resume in Could however are delayed till September due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
January 4, 2021 – On the Previous Bailey in London, Choose Vanessa Baraitser concludes it could be “oppressive” to extradite him to the US due to his frail psychological well being, saying there was an actual threat he would take his personal life.
January 6, 2021 – Choose Baraitser denies Assange bail at a London court docket, saying he’s a flight threat.