Now US slaps 17 WikiLeaks spy charges on Assange

JULIAN Assange faces a further 17 charges in the US for his role in allegedly publishing classified information. The WikiLeaks founder was indicted last night under the Espionage Act – the first time in modern history it has been used against a publisher.

Assange, pictured, is accused of conspiring with former army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a Defense Department computer password.

The new indictment claims Assange and Manning tried to obtain and disclose classified documents. These include the State Department cables and reports on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. US officials claim the actions ‘risked serious harm’ to the US and put lives at risk.

Assange is serving a 50-week prison sentence in Britain for violating bail conditions while fighting extradition to Sweden, where he faces allegations of sexual assault. He was evicted from the Ecuadorian embassy in London last month after seeking asylum there for seven years. Once he was arrested, the US charged him with conspiracy to hack computers, which carries a maximum jail sentence of five years, and applied for extradition. A federal grand jury in Virginia returned the new, more serious, indictment last night.

Assange stands accused of releasing documents which named people working with the US government, including sources in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His supporters say the charges against him are an attack on the free press.

But John Demers, head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, said it was unfair to describe Assange as a journalist. The leaks put the lives of US allies based in war-torn countries at risk, and no ‘responsible’ journalist would publish them.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said the new indictment alleges one of the largest compromises of classified information in US history. It said Assange allegedly ‘published classified documents on WikiLeaks containing the unredacted names of human sources, including journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates, and political dissidents from repressive regimes’.