The US Department of Justice has strengthened its case against the founder of WikiLeaks with an amended indictment that presents new evidence that Julian Assange actively recruited hackers for computer intrusions, with which prosecutors seek to prove that he was not acting as a journalist or publisher, but rather as a hacker. violating the Espionage Act, for which he could be sentenced to a maximum of 175 years in prison, the world media write.
Conspiracy with 'Anonymous'
The founder of WikiLeaks conspired with hackers associated with the groups 'Anonymous' (Anonymous) and Lulzsek ('LulzSec') who are suspected of committing numerous cyber (cyber) attacks around the world, according to an updated indictment of the US Department of Justice, writes Bloomberg (Bloomberg).
Assange, who is in custody in the United Kingdom pending an extradition request to the US, gave the leader of Lulzsek a list of targets to be hacked in 2012, telling the person that the most influential release of the hacked materials would come from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National security (NSA) or the New York Times (New York Times), the US Department of Justice announced, noting that the leader of Lulzsek was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) at the time.
In June of last year, the US charged Assange with endangering national security for conspiring to obtain and disclose classified information. Bloomberg points out that the updated indictment released Wednesday, June 24, still has 18 counts, including 17 counts of espionage and one count of hacking into a government computer network.
According to the indictment, Assange helped military-intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning (Chelsea Manning) crack the computer code of the US Department of Defense to access classified documents from databases containing about 90.000 reports on war activities in Afghanistan, 400.000 reports related to the war in Iraq and 250.000 State Department cables covering almost every country in the world.
Recruiting at hacker conferences
According to the amended indictment of the US justice, the founder of WikiLeaks sought hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia who could receive classified information that he would publish on his website and conspired with members of hacking organizations, writes the Associated Press agency (The Associated Press ).
While there are no new charges from last year's indictment, prosecutors say the updated indictment highlights Assange's efforts to collect and release classified information, an allegation that forms the basis of the criminal charges he already faces. Prosecutors say the WikiLeaks founder harmed national security by releasing hundreds of thousands of classified documents that hurt the US and its allies and helped their adversaries.
The charges in the amended indictment detail the recruitment of hackers at conferences, including those held in the Netherlands and Malaysia in 2009, where Assange and a WikiLeaks associate sought to recruit hackers who could locate classified information, including material posted on the WikiLeaks website at to the "Most Wanted Leaks" list.
He also worked with a 17-year-old hacker who fed him information stolen from the bank and directed the teenager to steal additional material — audio recordings of senior government officials, prosecutors said. According to the new indictment, he told potential recruits that unless they were members of the U.S. military, they bore no legal responsibility for the theft of classified information.
Assange claims he is acting as a journalist entitled to protection under the First Amendment, the AP points out, adding that his lawyers have said the charges of espionage and computer misuse were politically motivated. After the announcement of the amended indictment, Assange's lawyer, Barry Pollack, said that it "represents a serious threat to journalists" and that the indictment still charges Assange with violating the Espionage Act based on WikiLeaks publications "which reveal war crimes committed by her." the US government."
Publisher, journalist or hacker
The Justice Department has presented new evidence to bolster its case against Julian Assange, proving the government's claims that he is not a publisher or journalist, but a hacker, according to The Washington Post.
Prosecutors and FBI agents came close to opening a criminal case against WikiLeaks over the 2011 hacking but were blocked by senior officials who wanted to focus on the espionage case against Assange, according to people familiar with the matter but who are with the paper spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
The Obama administration ultimately decided not to pursue the espionage case because of First Amendment concerns. But, the Washington Post adds, the case was revived by Donald Trump (Trump), due to the objections of some prosecutors who were involved in the case.
A new indictment in federal court in Alexandria alleges that Assange asked the teenager to illegally obtain tapes of phone conversations between politicians in a foreign country. The description matches that of Sigurdur Thordarson, an Icelandic hacker who was questioned by US prosecutors last year, the newspaper added. Assange was apparently furious with Iceland for blocking a deal to put a WikiLeaks server in Finland, one official said.
The new indictment also alleges that Assange encouraged leaks at hacker conferences and helped Edward Snowden flee the United States after he exposed top-secret government operations.
The omission of footage of the killing of Iraqi civilians
The indictment against Julian Assange does not mention the WikiLeaks video that exposed American "war crimes" in Iraq, The Guardian newspaper wrote earlier this month.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is being held in London's Belmarsh prison in poor health while the US seeks his extradition to face 18 charges. The prosecution claims that Assange risked American lives by publishing the US rules on participation in Iraq and other intelligence documents.
One of the most famous WikiLeaks releases was a video - recorded on July 12, 2007 from a US Apache helicopter, 'Crazy Horse 1-8', showing the killing of 11 people in Iraq.
The video clearly highlights the violation of the rules of killing non-military personnel and the threat to US forces. Among those killed in eastern Baghdad that day were 22-year-old Reuters photographer Namir Nur-Elden and his 40-year-old driver and fixer, Said Kmag.
The head of the Reuters bureau in Baghdad, Dean Yates, said that the US military repeatedly lied to him - and the whole world - about what happened. It was only after Assange released a video titled 'Collateral Murder' in April 2010 that the full truth about the US military's murders and lies was revealed, he said.
The Guardian adds that Australian activists and officials believe that the failure to mention 'Collateral Murder' in the US indictment is another indicator that the US government is not interested in highlighting its own injustices, frauds and war crimes, and just one of the reasons why we should oppose what is happening to Assange. .
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