WikiLeaks chief says he fears US ready to indict

Assange insisted to television interviewers that he was being subjected to a smear campaign and “what appears to be a secret grand jury investigation against me or our organisation.”

He did not elaborate,but said he had retained an unnamed US law firm to detain him.

Assange has repeatedly voiced concerns that American authorities were getting ready to press charges over WikiLeaks’ release of some 250,000 secret State Department cables,which have angered and embarrassed officials in Washington.

US officials are investigating WikiLeaks and considering charges against Assange,a case that if pursued could end up pitting the government’s efforts to protect sensitive information against press and speech freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment.

The government suspects WikiLeaks received the documents from an Army private,Bradley Manning,who is in the brig on charges of leaking other classified documents to the organisation.

A High Court judge freed Assange on bail yesterday on condition he reside at the 600-acre estate in eastern England,wear an electronic tag and report to police daily. Assange spent more than a week in prison after handing himself in to British police on December 7.

He is wanted in Sweden for questioning about sex allegations levelled against him by two women he spent time with while visiting the country in August.

Attempts to reach Assange’s British lawyers weren’t immediately successful today.

Assange appeared to come close today to acknowledging that Manning was one of his sources,calling him “a young man somehow embroiled in our publishing activities.”

“We can see that he’s the only person,only one of our military sources,who has been accused,” he said.

But Assange appeared to be citing media accounts of Manning’s links to WikiLeaks,rather than his own knowledge.

In an interview later today on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America’,Assange said that he had never even heard Manning’s name until the press began reporting it.

Swedish officials and the lawyer for the women involved have denied accusations from Assange and his supporters that the allegations are politically motivated.