The US has written to the founder of whistleblower site
Wikileaks, Julian Assange, requesting him not to release a batch of diplomatic
files.
The release of classified state department documents is
against US law and will put “countless” lives at risk, the letter
warns.
Wikileaks says it is set to unveil a new set of
documents, bigger than past releases on Afghanistan and Iraq.
Mr Assange has said the US authorities are afraid of
being held to account.
The latest leak is expected to include documents covering
US dealings and diplomats’ confidential views of countries including Australia,
Britain, Canada, Israel, Russia and Turkey.
A journalist with Britain’s Guardian newspaper, which has
been working with Wikileaks on publishing the files, said they would include an
unflattering US assessment of UK PM David Cameron.
The letter from the US state department’s legal advisor
Harold Koh was a response to correspondence from Mr Assange, who had written to
the US ambassador to Britain, Louis Susman.
Mr Assange had asked which individuals would be put at
risk due to the leak, the state department said.
A senior American official told the BBC that Mr Assange
was offering to negotiate over limited redactions.
In response, Mr Koh demanded that Wikileaks return
official documents to the US government.
“We will not engage in a negotiation regarding the
further release or dissemination of illegally obtained US government classified
materials,” Mr Koh stated in the letter.
Mr Koh’s letter adds that the publication of the documents
would endanger the lives of “countless” individuals – from
journalists to human rights activists and bloggers – and put US military
operations at risk.
Correspondents say the letter is a rare move for the US
administration, and reflects the government’s concern about the implications of
the possible leak.
Wikileaks earlier this week said that the next release
would be nearly seven times larger than the nearly 400,000 Pentagon documents
related to the Iraq war it published in October.
It has not confirmed when the documents will be made
public, but there is some speculation that the release will take place on
Sunday. Guardian journalist Simon Hoggart said the paper would publish
extensive details on Monday.
He told the BBC: “There is going to be some
embarrassment certainly for Gordon Brown but even more so for David Cameron who
was not very highly regarded by the Obama administration or by the US
ambassador here.”
The Sunday Times also quoted an official who warned that
British citizens in Muslim countries could be targeted in a backlash against
perceived “anti-Islamic” views.
The UK Ministry of Defence has urged newspaper editors to
“bear in mind” the national security implications of publishing any
of the files.
Wikileaks argues that the site’s previous releases shed
light on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They included allegations of torture
by Iraqi forces and reports that suggested 15,000 additional civilian deaths in
Iraq.
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