WikiLeaks founder Assange claims victory but he still faces fight for freedom

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today claimed victory in his fight to avoid deportation to Sweden on sex assault charges. The 44-year-old, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London for three years, said he was vindicated by a U.N. panel which ruled he was being unlawfully detained. But he remained trapped inside the embassy after Britain and Sweden rejected the ruling, saying it carried out no legal weight and  they would contest it. Giving a news conference by video link from inside the embassy, Mr Assange called on the countries to abide by the ruling and let him walk free.

I miss my family. That we have today a really significant victory that has brought a smile to my face and I hope many others as well.

Julian Assange

Mr Assange fled to the embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden. 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. However, the panel’s Ukrainian member Vladimir Tochilovsky dissented, saying Mr Assange fled bail and chose to stay in the embassy to evade arrest. British foreign secretary Philip Hammond branded the ruling ridiculous and said the Australian campaigner was a “fugitive from justice”. Mr Assange called his remarks an insult to the UN.

The various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention

Seong-Phil Hong, head of the UN panel

Politics