Key dates in the legal battle

Nov 18, 2010: A Swedish prosecutor issues a European arrest warrant for Assange on sexual assault allegations involving two Swedish women. Dec 7, 2010: Assange turns himself in to police in London and is placed in custody pending a ruling on the Swedish extradition request. He is later released on bail. Feb 24, 2011: A British judge rules that Assange can be extradited to Sweden. In November Britain’s High Court rejects an appeal against his extradition. June 19, 2012: Assange requests, and is later granted political asylum at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Oct 25, 2013: Ecuador demands that Britain allows Assange to fly to Quito. July 16, 2014: A Swedish court upholds the European arrest warrant against Assange. Nov 20, 2014: Assange loses an appeal against the arrest warrant. Sept 12, 2014: Assange files a complaint against Sweden and Britain with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. Feb 25, 2015: Assange’s lawyers petition Sweden’s Supreme Court to quash the arrest warrant. Feb 5, 2016: The UN panel confirms its view that Assange has been “arbitrarily detained”, saying he should be able to claim compensation from Britain and Sweden over his time in the embassy. Sept 16, 2016: The Stockholm appeals court rejects a request by Assange to lift the arrest warrant in light of the UN panel’s non-binding legal opinion. Jan 17, 2017: WikiLeaks claims “victory” after then US president Barack Obama commutes the sentence of Chelsea Manning, a soldier who leaked a huge amount of defence department files published by WikiLeaks, and who is released on May 17. May 19, 2017: Swedish prosecutors say they have closed their seven-year rape investigation. In London, police say they are “obliged” to arrest Assange if he leaves the embassy, for breaching the terms of his bail in 2012. —