Five things to know about WikiLeaks

LONDON: WikiLeaks has made headlines for more than a decade by releasing millions of classified documents, embarrassing governments worldwide while also provoking accusations that its activities may have put lives in danger.

Its founder, Julian Assange, finds out Monday if he will be extradited to the United States to face charges for leaking classified documents related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Here are five things to know about WikiLeaks.

10 million leaks

While the WikiLeaks website was registered in 2006, the group began its operations in 2007, with Assange saying it would use encryption and a censorship-proof website to protect sources and publicise secret information.

WikiLeaks first caught the world's attention when it released manuals for US prison guards at Guantanamo Bay.

But it really hit its stride in 2010, when it worked with The New York Times, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Le Monde and El Pais to publish millions of classified diplomatic cables.

It has published more than 10 million leaked documents, to the dismay of politicians, governments and corporations.

Controversy strikes

In its early days, WikiLeaks worked with dissidents worldwide to expose government secrets from the United States to Europe, China, Africa and the Middle East.

But over time, it has increasingly set its sights on the United States, fuelling suspicion of collaboration with Russia -- claims that Assange has denied.

WikiLeaks raised a storm in July 2016 by releasing emails showing US Democratic Party officials favouring Hillary Clinton over left-winger Bernie Sanders in the presidential primary elections, forcing high-ranking party members to resign.

It was also accused of revealing the identity of a gay man in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia. Again, the group denied the accusation.

Arrest warrant

The worst scandals to affect WikiLeaks have involved Assange himself.

Hailed as a hero by supporters and reviled as a manipulator by critics, the white-haired Australian was holed up in Ecuador's embassy in London from 2012 to 2019 to avoid extradition to Sweden over rape allegations.

Swedish prosecutors dropped their investigation on May 19, 2017. But Assange was arrested for breaching bail in 2019 after a change of government in Quito that brought an end to his asylum in the mission.

Even after serving time in the high-security Belmarsh prison in south London for that offence, he has been held behind bars pending the result of the US extradition request.

A UN rights expert said earlier this month "his prolonged solitary confinement in a high-security prison is neither necessary nor proportionate and clearly lacks any legal basis".

Snowden and Manning

The huge release of memos known as "cablegate", which embarrassed governments worldwide, would not have been possible had it not been for US soldier Chelsea Manning, who handed WikiLeaks 700,000 classified documents.

She was given a 35-year prison sentence, which former US president Barack Obama commuted in January 2017. Manning was freed on May 17, 2017.

Former US intelligence contractor Edward Snowden has also received WikiLeaks' backing, though he did not use the group's site to publish his leaks about the National Security Agency.

Assange recommended he quickly flee to Moscow to evade prosecution in the United States -- advice he heeded.

In the movies

Two major films have been made about WikiLeaks -- "The Fifth Estate" (2013) and "Risk", a documentary that was screened at the 2016 Cannes film festival.

Assange meanwhile guest-starred as himself in an episode of "The Simpsons", recording his lines over the phone from the Ecuadorian embassy.