UN group confirms Assange was "arbitrarily detained"

A United Nations legal panel has said Julian Assange should be “entitled to his freedom of movement and to compensation”, but the UK has rejected the report.

The Wikileaks founder claimed asylum in London’s Ecuadorean embassy in 2012, after an international arrest warrant was issued in 2010 for a rape allegation, which he denies.

He feared if he was extradited to Sweden, he would then be extradited to the US to face charges over his Wikileaks website for “the peaceful exercise of his freedoms”.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said it believed Assange was “arbitrarily detained” by the Governments of Sweden and the UK.

“The Working Group considered that Mr. Assange has been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in Wandsworth prison which was followed by house arrest and his confinement at the Ecuadorian Embassy,” the group said in a report released Friday.

“Having concluded that there was a continuous deprivation of liberty, the Working Group also found that the detention was arbitrary because he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention and because of the lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr Assange.”

The UN group said Sweden and the UK needs to assess Assange’s situation “to ensure his safety and physical integrity, to facilitate the exercise of his right to freedom of movement in an expedient manner, and to ensure the full enjoyment of his rights guaranteed by the international norms on detention”.

It also said his arbitrary detention should end and he should be compensated.

However, BBC News reported that Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said the panel's opinion was "ridiculous" and that Assange was a "fugitive from justice".

The broadcaster also reported the Metropolitan Police said it will make "every effort" to arrest Assange if he leaves the embassy.

A spokesperson from the Foreign Office said it will contest the findings of the working group.

“The opinion of the UN Working Group ignores the facts and the well-recognised protections of the British legal system. He is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy.”

The spokesperson said the UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite him as a European Arrest Warrant is still in place.

“As the UK is not a party to the Caracas Convention, we do not recognise ‘diplomatic asylum’.”