Prosecutors wave aside UN claims WikiLeaks’ Assange is being held unlawfully

Britain and Sweden have rejected the findings of a United Nations panel which said WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was being held unlawfully. The British foreign office said it would formally contest the working group’s report which decided Mr Assange, who has been hiding in the Ecaudor embassy for more than three years, was a victim of arbitrary detention. It said it was "deeply frustrated" by the situation over the 44-year-old, who is wanted in Sweden over alleged sex offences. Swedish prosecutors said the ruling “has no formal impact on the ongoing investigation, according to Swedish law”.

The opinion of the U.N. working group ignores the facts and the well-recognized protections of the British legal system. He is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy.

British foreign office

Mr Assange has been holed up in the embassy in London since 2012 in an effort to avoid extradition to Sweden to face a rape charge. He claims if he goes to Sweden he will be sent to America to face trial over the 2010 leaking of millions of classified documents. He now has the backing of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention which announced on Friday he was being held illegally and he should be paid compensation. “The various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention,” said Seong-Phil Hong, who currently heads the expert panel. However, the panel’s Ukrainian member Vladimir Tochilovsky dissented, saying the embassy Mr Assange fled bail and chose to stay in the embassy to evade arrest.

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