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A British judge ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange should not be extradited to the United States to face criminal charges including breaking a spying law, saying his mental health problems meant he would be at risk of suicide. The United States accuses Australian-born Assange, 49, of 18 offences relating to the release by WikiLeaks of vast troves of confidential US military records and diplomatic cables which prosecutors said had put lives in danger. Take at look at some key events and details in Assange's life:
July 1971 – Assange is born in Townsville, Australia, to parents involved in theatre. As a teenager, he gains a reputation as a computer programmer, and in 1995 is fined for computer hacking but avoids prison on condition he does not offend again. (Reuters Photo) 
2006 – Founds WikiLeaks, creating an internet-based "dead letter drop" for leakers of classified or sensitive information.(Reuters Photo) -
April 5, 2010 – WikiLeaks releases leaked video from a U.S. helicopter showing an air strike that killed civilians in Baghdad, including two Reuters news staff.(Reuters Photo)
July 25, 2010 – WikiLeaks releases over 91,000 documents, mostly secret U.S. military reports about the Afghanistan war.(Reuters Photo) 
October, 2010 – WikiLeaks releases 400,000 classified military files chronicling the Iraq war. The next month, it releases thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables, including candid views of foreign leaders and blunt assessments of security threats.(Reuters Photo) 
November 18, 2010 – A Swedish court orders Assange's arrest over rape allegations, which he denies. He is arrested in Britain the next month on a European Arrest Warrant but freed on bail.(Reuters Photo) 
February 2011 – London's Westminster Magistrates Court orders Assange's extradition to Sweden. He appeals.(Reuters Photo) 
June 14, 2012 – The British Supreme Court rejects Assange's final appeal and five days later he takes refuge in Ecuador's embassy in London and seeks political asylum, which Ecuador grants in August 2012.(Reuters Photo) 
May 19, 2017 – Swedish prosecutors discontinue their investigation, saying it is impossible to proceed while Assange is in the Ecuadorean Embassy.(Reuters Photo) 
April 11, 2019 – Assange is carried out of the Ecuadorean Embassy and arrested after Ecuador revokes his political asylum. He is sentenced on May 1 to 50 weeks in prison by a British court for skipping bail. He completes the sentence early but remains jailed pending extradition hearings.(Reuters Photo) 
May 13, 2019 – Swedish prosecutors reopen their investigation and say they will seek Assange's extradition to Sweden.(Reuters Photo) 
June 11, 2019 – The U.S. Justice Department formally asks Britain to extradite Assange to the United States to face charges that he conspired to hack U.S. government computers and violated an espionage law.(Reuters Photo) -
November 19, 2019 – Swedish prosecutors drop their rape investigation, saying the evidence is not strong enough to bring charges, in part because of the passage of time.(Reuters Photo)
February 21, 2020 – A London court begins the first part of extradition hearings. On Oct. 1, 2020, Judge Vanessa Baraitser says she will give her ruling on Jan. 4, 2021. (Reuters Photo)
