Assange: Timeline Of Events
Updated: 3:52pm UK, Thursday 16 August 2012
Key events in the two-year legal saga of Julian Assange and WikiLeaks.
2010
July More than 91,000 documents, most of them secret US military reports about the war in Afghanistan, are released by WikiLeaks.org.
August WikiLeakers founder, Julian Assange, is accused of rape by one woman in Sweden and sexual molestation by another woman. He strongly denies the allegations. An arrest warrant is issued but then withdrawn after insufficient evidence.
September The rape investigation is reopened in Sweden. Mr Assange leaves Sweden for Britain.
October WikiLeaks releases another 400,000 classified military files chronicling the war in Iraq from 2004 to 2009, the largest leak of its kind in US military history.
November A Swedish court orders Mr Assange's detention due to the investigation into allegations against him of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion.
WikiLeaks releases thousands of US diplomatic cables that include candid views of foreign leaders and blunt assessments of security threats.
December Assange is arrested by British police on a European warrant issued by Sweden and held in jail after a judge refuses to grant bail. Bail, set at £200,000, is eventually granted on December 16.
2011
February Magistrates court rules Mr Assange should be extradited to Sweden.
August WikiLeaks releases thousands of previously unpublished US diplomatic cables from its cache of more than 250,000 State Department reports.
October Mr Assange says WikiLeaks will have to stop publishing secret cables and devote itself to fund-raising.
November The High Court rules Assange should be extradited to Sweden over the alleged sex crimes.
2012
June After losing an appeal to the Supreme Court, Mr Assange takes refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and asks for political asylum to avoid extradition to Sweden.
August Ecuador grants political asylum to Mr Assange.
