Asia-Pacific News

Australia warns WikiLeaks' Assange of charges if he returns

Nov 29, 2010, 9:04 GMT

Sydney - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could be charged if he returned to his native Australia, officials in Canberra said Monday.

Commenting after the WikiLeaks website began the release of 251,287 confidential US State Department documents, Attorney General Robert McClelland said there would be no offer of safe haven to Australian citizen Assange.

'From Australia's point of view, we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached,' McClelland said. 'The Australian Federal Police are looking at that.'

The government set up a taskforce in July to monitor the implications of WikiLeaks releases.

McClelland stopped short of saying the government was considering cancelling Assange's passport but would not rule it out.

Assange is believed to be in Britain.

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