JULIAN Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, could face espionage charges in the United States.
The development comes after prosecutors revealed evidence of his apparent role in the theft of secret military documents.
Lawyers in the Bradley Manning case have produced logs of online chats that claim to show Mr Assange coaching the young private on how to break passwords to gain access to military computer networks anonymously.
The logs are the first evidence that the US Government has revealed alleging that Mr Assange played an active role in helping Private Manning to remove and transmit classified files from a top-secret facility in Iraq, laying him open to criminal charges in the US.
The US Justice Department opened a joint investigation with the Pentagon last year into possible criminal proceedings against Mr Assange and a federal grand jury is hearing evidence in closed court to determine what, if any charges, could be brought.
Mr Assange, 40, has denied direct contact with Private Manning and refused to comment on whether he was the source of the leak. Legal experts have argued that the Government would struggle to prosecute Mr Assange for espionage if he was only a passive recipient of information.
Lawyers for Mr Assange said they believed that the evidence produced in the military court on Thursday would form the basis of the Government’s case. Jennifer Robinson, a lawyer for Mr Assange, said that the evidence “gives us a very clear indication that the US Government intends to prosecute Julian Assange and potentially others associated with WikiLeaks”.
Experts said the most obvious charge stemming from the logs was conspiracy to commit espionage.Private Manning, 24, has been charged with the same offence, along with 21 others, including conspiracy to aid the enemy, which carries the death penalty, although prosecutors say they are seeking only a life sentence.
Michael Pearce, National Times: Assange’s treatment says a lot about us
