Attorney General Jeff Sessions remarks come amid reports that his office is preparing charges against Julian Assange.
![[AP]](https://i0.wp.com/nasheman.in/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Julian-Assange.jpg)
[AP]
by Al Jazeera
The arrest of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is a US “priority”, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said, as media reports indicated his office was preparing charges against the leaker.
“We are going to step up our effort and already are stepping up our efforts on all leaks,” Sessions said at a news conference on Thursday in response to a reporter’s question about a US priority to arrest Assange.
The justice department chief said a rash of leaks of sensitive secrets appeared unprecedented.
“This is a matter that’s gone beyond anything I’m aware of. We have professionals that have been in the security business of the United States for many years that are shocked by the number of leaks and some of them are quite serious,” he said.
“Whenever a case can be made, we will seek to put some people in jail.”
Prosecutors in recent weeks have been drafting a memo that looks at charges against Assange and members of WikiLeaks that possibly include conspiracy, theft of government property and violations of the Espionage Act, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed US officials familiar with the matter.
Several other media outlets cited unnamed officials as saying US authorities were preparing charges against Assange.
Prosecutors had struggled to determine whether the First Amendment protected Assange from prosecution but had now found a way to move forward, officials told CNN.
The justice department declined to comment on the reports.
Assange, 45, has been holed up at the Ecuadoran embassy in London since 2012 trying to avoid extradition to Sweden where he faces a rape allegation that he denies.
He fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States to face trial for leaking hundreds of thousands of secret US military and diplomatic documents that first gained attention in 2010.
Assange’s case returned to the spotlight after WikiLeaks was accused of meddling in the US election last year by releasing a damaging trove of hacked emails from presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic Party.
US officials say the emails were hacked with the aid of the Russian government in its bid to influence the US election.
Critics say their release late in the race helped to tip the November 8 election to Republican Donald Trump.
Trump and his administration have put heat on WikiLeaks after it embarrassed the Central Intelligence Agency last month by releasing a large number of files and computer code from the spy agency’s top-secret hacking operations.
The documents showed how the CIA exploits vulnerabilities in popular computer and networking hardware and software to gather intelligence.
Supporters of WikiLeaks say it is practising the constitutional right of freedom of speech and the press.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo last week branded WikiLeaks a “hostile intelligence service,” saying it threatens democratic nations and joins hands with dictators.
Pompeo focused on the anti-secrecy group and other leakers of classified information like Edward Snowden as one of the key threats facing the United States.
“WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service. It has encouraged its followers to find jobs at CIA in order to obtain intelligence … And it overwhelmingly focuses on the United States, while seeking support from anti-democratic countries and organisations,” said Pompeo.
“It is time to call out WikiLeaks for what it really is – a non-state hostile intelligence service often abetted by state actors like Russia.”
In response to Thursday’s report WikiLeaks reposted on Twitter an opinion piece written by Assange and published in the Washington Post earlier this month.
“WikiLeaks’ sole interest is expressing constitutionally protected truths, which I remain convinced is the cornerstone of the United States’ remarkable liberty, success and greatness,” Assange wrote.
![Ahmadinejad left office in August 2013 after two turbulent four-year terms [Kham/Reuters]](https://i0.wp.com/nasheman.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Mahmoud-Ahmadinejad.jpg)
New Delhi: A special court today awarded seven-year jail term to two ISIS men after they pleaded guilty, saying there was a need to show leniency as they should get an opportunity to reform themselves and become good citizens.
District Judge Amar Nath convicted Azhar-ul-Islam (24) from Jammu and Kashmir and Mohammed Farhan Shaikh (25) from Maharashtra, after both pleaded guilty of criminally conspiring to raise funds and recruiting people for the terror outfit ISIS, saying “it seems they have realised their mistakes and are willing to repent for their acts and deeds”.
“No doubt, they were members of a terrorist organisation and got themselves associated with their activities. That may be their folly either on account of misguidance or lack of maturity of mind and circumstances,” the judge said.
He said the court “needs to take into account positive aspects from their act of pleading guilty. It seems the convicts have realised their mistakes and are willing to repent for their acts and deeds.
“In that case, the convicts should get an opportunity to reform themselves and be a good citizen of this country.
Keeping in view the aforesaid facts and circumstances, I am of the considered opinion that there is necessity of showing some leniency while imposing punishment upon the convicts but at the same time, it should not be a wrong message to the society,” the judge said.
The accused had moved the court following their U-turn more than a month after the court framed charges against them.
The accused had moved an application through advocate M S Khan saying they “are remorseful of the acts alleged against them. There is no prior criminal record against them and they want to join the mainstream and want to be productive for the society and want to rehabilitate themselves”.
“The applicants are pleading guilty without any pressure, threat, coercion or undue influence,” the plea had said.
The court had last month framed charges against both the accused and 36-year-old Adnan Hassan for allegedly hatching a criminal conspiracy to raise funds for the ISIS and recruiting people for the terror outfit. The trial against Hassan is continuing separately before the same court.
The court had framed the charges for alleged offences of criminal conspiracy under the IPC) and under provisions of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had registered a case against the three accused on January 28 last year. They were arrested the next day on arrival here from Abu Dhabi.
According to the probe agency, Hassan and Shaikh had been frequently visiting the UAE in connection with jobs since 2008 and 2012 respectively, while Islam had gone to join them in the UAE in July, 2015.
Hassan was earlier allegedly affiliated to the Indian Mujahideen and later got inclined towards ISIS, it alleged.
The charge sheet filed by NIA had claimed that the accused persons, in connivance with other known and unknown associates, had hatched a criminal conspiracy to propagate the ideology, recruit persons, raise funds and facilitate the travel of those recruited to Syria to join the ISIS and further its activities.
The final report said that in furtherance of the conspiracy, the accused had created multiple email IDs, used multiple mobile numbers obtained from their associates from different countries, formed various online forums and groups on Facebook, WhatsApp, Kik, VKontakte, Viber and Skype, using the internet and invited and associated like-minded persons, residents of different countries.
“The accused had formed a terrorist gang and acted as a frontal group of the ISIS and incited, motivated, invited and facilitated people of different nationalities to leave their respective countries and travel to Syria to join, support and further activities of the ISIS,” it had alleged.
The agency said the accused persons were actively involved in perpetuating, promoting and propagating ideologies and terrorist activities of the ISIS.
“They had voluntarily advocated and professed to be the supporters and members of the ISIS and actively supported, invited support from others, propagated and promoted unlawful activities and terrorist activities of the ISIS by exhorting, inciting, luring and influencing others to become members of this organisation,” the NIA had claimed.
“They had also raised, collected and received funds in the UAE and transferred it to their associates in India, the Philippines and Tunisia to facilitate their travel to Syria to join ISIS,” it had alleged.
(PTI)