The LulzSec leader was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the time, according to the statement.
Julian Assange.(File Photo: IANS)
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange conspired with hackers affiliated with the “Anonymous” and “LulzSec” groups, which have been linked to numerous cyber attacks around the world, according to new indictment by the US Justice Department.
Assange was detained in the UK on a US extradition request, gave the leader of LulzSec a list of targets to hack in 2012 and told this person that the most influential release of hacked materials would be from the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency or the New York Times, the Justice Department said in a statement.
The LulzSec leader was cooperating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at the time, according to the statement.
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The indictment continues to allege that Assange conspired with Army Intelligence Analyst Chelsea Manning to crack a password hash to a classified US Department of Defense computer, the US said.
In 2019, an independent UN rights expert Nils Melzer had warned that the conditions WikiLeaks founder Assange was being held in are putting his life “at-risk”.
Last week, UK police arrested Assange after the South American nation revoked the political asylum that had protected him in the embassy, and he was brought before a British court — the first step in an extradition battle that he has vowed to fight.
Assange took refuge in the embassy in 2012 after he was released on bail in Britain while facing extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations that have since been dropped. He refused to leave the embassy, fearing arrest and extradition to the US for publishing classified military and diplomatic cables through WikiLeaks.
He has been facing the extradition request by the US over charges he violated the US Espionage Act by publishing a huge cache of military and diplomatic files in 2010.
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