Julian Assange released: Timeline of WikiLeaks founder's road to freedom

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has agreed to plead guilty to revealing military secrets in exchange for his release from prison, ending years of legal wrangling that shaped global debate around free speech starting the 2010s. Here is a timeline of events.

2010: Assault charges

In July 2010, Assange's whistleblowing website WikiLeaks began publishing hundreds of thousands of leaked US military documents about wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, some of which explained American wartime abuses.

In the same year, WikiLeaks published a massive batch of secret US diplomatic cable which showed that Washington spied on the United Nations leaders and that Saudi Arabia pressured the US to attack Iran.

In November that year, a prosecutor in Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange over sexual assault accusations involving two women. Assange denied the claims, saying they had consensual sex. He reports to police in London and is arrested. A week later he is released on bail.

2012: Ecuador embassy refuge

In February 2011, a judge in Britain ruled for Assange's extradition to Sweden. Assange appeals the ruling. In June 2012, he takes refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Ecuador under the left-wing president Rafael Correa, grants him asylum. He stays there till April 2019.

2019: Assange arrested, imprisoned

In January 2018, Ecuador, now ruled by conservative President Lenin Moreno, claimed hosting Assange in its London embassy had become "untenable".

In April 2019, British police take Assange from the embassy and arrest him on a US extradition request. In May, he is sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for having breached bail in 2010. The legal process for his extradition to the US begins.

In May 2019, the US Justice Department charges Assange with violating the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010.

2020: Assange lawyers say Trump promised him presidential pardon

In February 2020 court hearings, Assange's lawyers claim then US president Donald Trump had promised him a pardon if he denied Russia had leaked him damaging emails about Hillary Clinton ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

2021: Legal victory and setback

A London court blocked his extradition in January 2021, on the grounds he would be a suicide risk if sent to the US. The verdict is overturned by a High Court.

2022: Permission to appeal

Judges in January 2022 granted Assange permission to appeal the extradition. But in March, the UK Supreme Court refuses to hear the challenge.

On June 17, 2022, the British government approves his extradition but it is challenged in courts.

2024: Plea deal and release

Assange agrees to plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defence information, according to US court documents released on Monday (June 24) night.

Also watch |WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to plead guilty in espionage act case in US court

WikiLeaks says "Julian Assange is free," writing on X that he has left prison and flown out of Britain after being granted bail by a high court judge. Assange is reportedly now flying to Australia.

Assange is scheduled to appear Wednesday morning local time at a court in the Northern Mariana Islands, a US territory in the Pacific, close to his native Australia.