These are the key dates:

• 2006 - Assange co-founds Wikileaks - a web-based "dead-letterbox" for would-be leakers

• April 2010 - Wikileaks releases footage of a US helicopter firing on civilians in Iraq

• August 2010 - Swedish prosecutors first issue an arrest warrant for Assange on two separate sexual assault allegations - which Assange says are "without basis"

• December 2010 - Assange is arrested in London and bailed soon after. He begins appealing the international arrest warrant

  Ecuador Embassy

  • May 2012 - The UK's Supreme Court rules he should be extradited to Sweden to face questioning over the allegations

  • June 2012 - Assange enters the Ecuadorean embassy in London

  • August 2012 - Assange is officially granted asylum and, while addressing reporters from the balcony of the embassy, demands that the US drop its "witch-hunt"

  • • February 2016 - A UN panel rules that Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" by UK and Swedish authorities and calls for his freedom

    • May 2017 - Sweden's director of public prosecutions announces that the sexual assault investigations into Assange are being dropped

    • October 2018 - Assange is given a set of house rules by the Ecuadorean embassy, the same month it is revealed he is launching legal action against the government of Ecuador - accusing it of violating his "fundamental rights and freedoms"

    • April 2019 - The Metropolitan Police enter the embassy - with the Ecuadorean government's permission - and detain Assange for "failing to surrender to the court" over a warrant issued in 2012

    Belmarsh Prison

    • May 2019 - Assange is sentenced to 50 weeks in jail for breaching his bail conditions

    • May 2019 - Sweden reopens the sexual assault investigation and the US reveals its charges against Assange. He begins fighting extradition in the UK courts

    • November 2019 - Swedish prosecutors discontinue their rape investigation

    • January 2021 - A British judge rejects a US request to extradite Assange because of the impact on his mental health. In December, the US win their bid to overturn the ruling

    • June 2022 - The UK government orders the extradition of Assange to the US, but his case continues to be tied up in appeals

    • February 2024 - Assange's lawyers launch a final legal bid to stop his extradition at the High Court - a higher judicial authority for England and Wales

    • May 2024 - The High Court rules Assange can bring a new appeal against extradition to the US

    • 19 June 2024 - Assange signs a plea agreement with the US and the High Court grants him bail

    • 24 June 2024 - Assange is released from prison on bail and boards a flight to a US territory in the Pacific to formalise a plea deal