US draws up secret charges against WikiLeaks' Assange

SYDNEY: US prosecutors have drawn up secret charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, a confidential email cited by media Wednesday said, as his lawyer demanded Australia start protecting him.

The email is one of a huge number from the US-based global intelligence company Stratfor that the whistleblowing organisation began publishing Monday.

Internal correspondence to Stratfor analysts from vice-president of intelligence Fred Burton said: "We have a sealed indictment on Assange," according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The newspaper, which has access to the emails through an investigative partnership with WikiLeaks, said the comment on January 26 last year was made in response to a media report about US investigations targeting WikiLeaks.

The information came with the request to protect it and not publish, the paper said, adding that Burton had close ties to the US intelligence and law enforcement agencies.

Assange, an Australian citizen, is awaiting a British Supreme Court decision on his appeal against extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. (AFP)