US says Assange, now free, had put people in 'danger'

Washington: The US State Department on Wednesday renewed its allegation that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange put people at risk for revealing secrets...

Washington: The US State Department on Wednesday renewed its allegation that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange put people at risk for revealing secrets, after he was freed in a plea deal.

"The documents they published gave identifying information of individuals who were in contact with the State Department -- that included opposition leaders, human rights activists around the world -- whose positions were put in some danger because of their public disclosure," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters.

"It also chilled the ability of American personnel to build relationships and have frank conversations," Miller said.

Assange had published hundreds of thousands of confidential US documents on the WikiLeaks whistleblowing website from 2010.

The Australian agreed to plea guilty to a single count of conspiracy to obtain and disseminate national defense information and was sentenced to the time he had served in London -- five years and two months -- and given his liberty.