Feds throw the book at Julian Assange: 17 new charges including felony conspiracy under the Espionage Act
Assange raised a clenched fist as he arrived in a prison van at Southwark Crown Court.
AFP / Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS
May 23, 2019
The Dept. of Justice has just announced an additional 17 new charges against Julian Assange. A grand jury indicted the Wikileaks founder on felony violations of the Espionage Act, including conspiracy to receive national defense information.
"The new charges include allegations that he violated the law not only by soliciting and receiving national security information," Buzzfeed News reports, "but also by publishing what John Demers, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, described to reporters on Thursday as a 'narrow subset' of documents that identified the names of individuals who were working with the US government, including sources in Afghanistan and Iraq."
The charges are not related to Wikileaks' publication of data stolen from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Each count carried a five to 10 year maximum sentence if convicted, CBS News notes.
This is a breaking news and developing story. Details may change. This story will be updated, and NCRM will likely publish follow-up stories on this news. Stay tuned and refresh for updates.
Leave a Comment