U.S. Charges Julian Assange With 18 Counts Over Classified Leaks

May 23 2019, 7:58 PMMay 23 2019, 8:58 PMMay 23 2019, 7:58 PMMay 23 2019, 8:58 PM

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. charged former WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with 18 counts related to endangering U.S. national security by conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information in one of the biggest intelligence breaches in American history.

The indictment against Assange, who until recently was holed up in Ecuador’s embassy in London, says the 47-year-old was complicit with former Army intelligence officer Chelsea Manning in “unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified documents related to national defense.” The charges supersede an earlier indictment against Assange.

“Assange’s actions risked serious harm to United States national security to the benefit of our adversaries,” according to a statement Thursday from the Justice Department.

Specifically, the Justice Department said Assange’s decision to publish unredacted names of Afghan and Iraqi citizens, journalists, religious leaders, human rights advocates and political dissidents who provided information to U.S. forces put those people at “grave and imminent risk.”

If convicted, Assange faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on 17 of the counts, and five years on the other, the Justice Department said. The U.S. is seeking Assange’s extradition from the U.K., where he is serving a 50-week term for skipping bail. Sweden issued an arrest warrant for Assange in 2010. He fought the extradition up to the U.K. Supreme Court, where he lost in 2012. While he was out on bail, Assange sought asylum in Ecuador’s embassy.

Swedish prosecutors recently said they are reopening a probe into rape allegations, which could derail U.S. attempts to extradite the WikiLeaks founder.

Assange has in the past claimed he is being persecuted for being a journalist, but the indictment on Thursday says he actively conspired with Manning to obtain the classified documents, many of which were labeled “secret.”

Justice Department officials disputed that defense on Thursday.

“Assange is charged for his complicity in illegal acts,” Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, told reporters. “Assange is not charged simply because he is a publisher.”

The information Assange and Manning secured including databases containing about 90,000 Afghanistan war-related activity reports, 400,000 Iraq war-related reports and 250,000 State Department cables, according to the Justice Department.