WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in key dates
Apr 11, 2019
WikiLeaks publishes classified military documents on American diplomacy and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, making Assange a pariah in the United States.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (Photo by AFP)
Here are the key dates in the life of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who was arrested by British police on April 11:
- 1971: He is born July 3 in Townsville, Australia. During his nomadic childhood and youth, he attends 37 schools.
- 1990s: Becomes a computer programmer and software developer, with a talent for hacking.
- 2003-2006: Studies physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne.
- 2006: Sets up wikileaks.org to enable whistleblowers to post sensitive documents on the internet without being traced.
- 2010: Swedish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for Assange over allegations of rape and sexual assault involving two women. He denies the accusations.
- 2010: WikiLeaks publishes classified military documents on American diplomacy and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, making Assange a pariah in the United States.
- 2012: To escape extradition from Britain, he requests political asylum from Ecuador and takes refuge at its embassy in London. Asylum is granted weeks later.
- 2016: WikiLeaks publishes 20,000 hacked emails from the US election campaign team of Democrat Hillary Clinton.
- 2017: Swedish prosecutors drop their rape probe. The same year, Assange becomes an Ecuadoran citizen.
- 2018: WikiLeaks' attorney describes his living conditions in the embassy as "inhuman".
- 2019 Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno says Assange has violated the conditions of his asylum. British police arrest Assange, saying his asylum had been withdrawn.