US prepares Assange indictment

US prosecutors have obtained a sealed indictment against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, whose website published thousands of classified US government documents, a US federal court document showed on Thursday.

The document, which prosecutors say was filed by mistake, asks a judge to seal documents in a criminal case unrelated to Assange, and carries markings indicating it was originally filed in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia in August.

A source familiar with the matter said the document was initially sealed but unsealed this week for reasons that are unclear at the moment.