Lawyer says Assange charged under broad, contentious US law

LONDON (AP) — An American constitutional law expert said Thursday that the United States indicted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under an “extraordinarily broad” spying law that has been used in the past for politically motivated prosecutions.

Speaking during Assange's extradition hearing in London, human rights lawyer Carey Shenkman called the century-old Espionage Act “one of the most contentious laws in the United States.”

Shenkman, who co-wrote a book on the history of the act, testified as a witness for Assange, 49, who is fighting his extradition from the U.K. to the U.S.

U.S. prosecutors indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of secret American military documents a decade ago. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.

Assange’s defense team argues that he is a journalist and entitled to First Amendment protections for publishing leaked documents that exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. His lawyers say he is facing a politically motivated prosecution that will stifle press freedom and put journalists around the world at risk.

Shenkman also said in a written witness statement that the administration of President Donald Trump “has prosecuted disclosures of national security information more aggressively than any presidency in U.S. history.”

He said there were eight Espionage Act prosecutions of media sources during former President Barack Obama’s two terms — more than any previous administration — and eight in less than four years under Trump.

Shenkman said there has never been a successful prosecution of a publisher under the act, although there have been attempts, including over the 1971 “Pentagon Papers” leak of documents about...