Julian Assange: US announces 17 new charges against WikiLeaks founder

The US Justice Department unveiled 17 new criminal charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Thursday, saying he unlawfully published the names of classified sources and conspired with and assisted former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in obtaining access to classified information.

The charges, contained in an 18-count indictment announced on Thursday, go far beyond an initial indictment against Assange made public last month that accused him of conspiring with Manning to gain access to a government computer, as part of a 2010 leak by WikiLeaks of hundreds of thousands of US military reports about the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. 

The new indictment, which accuses Assange of violating the espionage act, says his actions “risked serious harm” to the US.

It said Assange had “repeatedly encouraged sources with access to classified information to steal and provide it to Wikileaks to disclose”.

“Julian Assange is no journalist,” said assistant attorney general John Demers, the Justice Department’s top national security official. “No responsible actor, journalist or otherwise, would purposely publish the names of individuals he or she knew to be confidential sources, exposing them to the gravest of dangers.” 

Wikileaks hit back after the announcement, tweeting: "This is madness. It is the end of national security journalism and the first amendment [to the US Constitution]."  Manning was found guilty in 2013 of charges including espionage for leaking secret military files to Wikileaks, but her 35-year sentence was commuted by then-President Barack Obama.