LONDON – 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.