“Yes,he received classified information from Chelsea Manning and he published that information,” Pollock said. “That should not be a crime.”

Assange had “suffered tremendously” for publishing “truthful,newsworthy information,including revealing that the United States had committed war crimes”,Pollock said.

Independent MP Andrew Wilkie said he was thrilled by Assange’s release but said the case had set an “alarming precedent” for journalism.

The US Justice Department said that Assange was not merely a passive recipient of classified information,accusing him of encouraging Manning to provide documents to WikiLeaks,including by telling her that “curious eyes never run dry in my experience”.

The Justice Department said that,unlike traditional news organisations,“Assange and WikiLeaks disclosed many of the raw classified documents without removing any personally identifying information”.

“Assange’s decision to reveal the names of human sources illegally shared with him by Manning created a grave and imminent risk to human life,” the department said.

“For example,the State Department cables that WikiLeaks disseminated included information from journalists,religious leaders,human rights advocates,and political dissidents who had chosen to provide information to the United States in confidence at significant risk to their own safety.”

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