US prosecutors file new claims that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange conspired with Anonymous and LulzSec hackers

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been accused of providing a hit-list of targets as he allegedly conspired with hackers around the world, according to a new US criminal indictment.

The 48-year-old is said to have tried to recruit hackers at conferences in Europe and Asia and allegedly worked with online activist groups Anonymous and LulzSec in pursuit of classified information for the Wikileaks website.

Assange, who is currently in custody in the UK and battling against extradition to America, faces the fresh allegations on a new indictment published overnight in the US.

The new indictment does not add to the 17 alleged violations of the Espionage Act and a computer hacking charge that he faces, but includes new claims about Assange between 2009 and 2012.

Assange denies all the charges, and insists his activities were legitimate as a journalist working with sources.

According to the new Justice Department indictment, prosecutors say Assange told a hacking conference in Malaysia in 2009: “I was a famous teenage hacker in Australia, and I’ve been reading generals’ emails since I was 17”.

It is said he advertised Wikileaks’ ‘most wanted leaks’ targets in a bid “to recruit sources to engage in computer hacking and steal classified information for publication by Wikileaks”.

Assange is further accused of working with a 17-year-old hacker who gave him information stolen from a bank, allegedly directing the teenager to steal additional material including audio recordings of high-ranking government officials.

He is also accused of working with the leader of LulzSec, telling him: “The most impactful release of hacked materials would be from the CIA, NSA, or the New York Times”, according to the indictment.

In response to the new indictment, Assange’s lawyer Barry Pollack said: “The government’s relentless pursuit of Julian Assange poses a grave threat to journalists everywhere and to the public’s right to know.

“While today’s superseding indictment is yet another chapter in the US Government’s effort to persuade the public that its pursuit of Julian Assange is based on something other than his publication of newsworthy truthful information, the indictment continues to charge him with violating the Espionage Act based on WikiLeaks publications exposing war crimes committed by the US Government.”

Assange spent more than seven years in the Ecuadorian embassy in London before he was arrested last year. He has been detained at HMP Belmarsh while battling extradition to America.

The central allegations against him relate to the mass release of US military cables relating to the Iraq and Afghan wars on the Wikileaks website.

Assange is accused of conspiring with former intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, in what prosecutors say was “one of the largest compromises of classified information in the history of the United States”.

His legal team has argued the charges are politically motivated and an abuse of power, as well as asserting that he was doing legitimate journalistic work.

An extradition hearing is due to resume on September 7.