Julian Assange, the Wikileaks founder, was hit with 17 new criminal charges by the US Justice Department on Thursday over his role in obtaining and releasing classified information in 2010.

Assange was accused of “aiding, abetting, and causing” Chelsea Manning, then an intelligence analyst in the US Army, to access and leak secret documents belonging to the US government.

The 47-year-old Australian was also accused of endangering the lives of US sources in Iran, China, Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan by not redacting names when publishing the documents.

The alleged violations of the Espionage Act will trigger a battle over press freedom, given Assange argues he is a journalist and acted no differently from other reporters. US officials dispute that defence.

The case could end up with the courts determining whether Assange is protected by the US Constitution’s First Amendment, which enshrines freedom of the press.