Julian Assange , editor in chief of WikiLeaks, attends the Hay Festival on June 4, 2011 in Hay-on-Wye, Wales.
The Leak: In 2010, the WikiLeaks founder published 391,832 classified U.S. military documents on the Iraq War, the largest such leak in history. The files were shared with many media outlets, including the New York Times and the Guardian before they were posted on the group’s website.
The Outcome: Assange has been under house arrest in Ecuador’s embassy in London for almost a year. Initially, he turned himself in to British police after accusations of rape and sexual assault surfaced in Sweden. Subsequently, he lost his appeal against extradition to Sweden but was granted political asylum by Ecuador. If sent to Sweden, reports say, Assange fears he could be extradited to the U.S. and face the death penalty on separate charges for the release of thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables.
(MORE: WikiLeaks)