US preparing to indict me on espionage charges: Assange

Assange, who had an emotional reunion with his mother at the 600-acre Suffolk estate where he is currently under house arrest after being released on bail, told newsmen:

"The US is preparing to indict me on espionage charges. I am afraid my freedom may be short-lived."

It was increasingly likely that that the US would try to extradite him, he said. He said an "illegal investigation" is being carried out against him, the Daily Mail reported.

A spokeswoman for the US Department of Justice would confirm only that there is "an ongoing investigation into the wikiLeaks matter."

The whistleblower's mother Christine Assange, who traveled to London to show her support, joined some of her son's supporters to celebrate his release from jail at 10-bedroom Ellingham Hall, owned by Vaughan smith, founder of London's Frontline club.

Assange had champagne and a meal of stew and dumplings to mark the end of his nine-day incarceration at Wandsworth prison as he fights extradition to Sweden on sex assault allegations, which he denies.

Smiling and hugging his mother, Assange, who remains under 'mansion arrest' said: "This is not the beginning of the end. It is the end of the beginning.

It has not altered my position, in fact it has confirmed my position to me personally that we are on the right path."

Assange said he had not been provided with any evidence relating to claims he sexually assaulted two women and claimed certain institutions were involved in an "illegal investigation".

"We can see that by how certain people who are allegedly affiliated with us were contained at the US border and had their computers seized, and so on."

Assange said: "I would say that there is a very aggressive investigation, that a lot of face has been lost by some people, and some people have careers to make by pursuing famous cases, but that is actually something that needs monitoring."

"We've seen the Swedish government, let's not say the government, a Swedish prosecutor in these representations to the British Government and British Courts said he needed not to provide a single shred of evidence."

Assange said he had spent 9 days in solitary confinement at Wandsworth Prison, south west London, and had still not been presented with "a single piece of evidence."