A United Nations human rights panel has concluded that Julian Assange is being arbitrarily detained in the Ecuadorian embassy in west London where he has been holed up in since June 2012 after being granted political asylum.
The finding was made public by the Swedish Foreign ministry which is seeking to extradite the WikiLeaks founder after it issued an international arrest warrant relating to allegations of rape in November 2010 but Assange’s lawyers are insisting the claims are without merit.
Assange and his team fear if extradited the 44-year-old Australian will be transferred to the US to face charges relating to leaking classified documents by his organisation Wikileaks in 2010.
The UN finding means that if Assange is arrested in the UK it would be unlawful but British authorities maintain they will arrest Assange should he leave the embassy – and then extradite him to Sweden to face charges.
A UK Foreign Office spokesman said: “We have been consistently clear that Mr Assange has never been arbitrarily detained by the UK but is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorian embassy.
“An allegation of rape is still outstanding and a European Arrest Warrant in place, so the UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden.”
WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson told Sky News it would be “very serious” if the UK and Sweden did not back down now.
“He (Mr Assange) is happy that this seems to be the outcome but he’s still waiting for conformation from the UN,” said Mr Hrafnsson.
“If this is the result we expect the UK and Swedish governments to drop the arrest warrant against him and for the UK to deliver his passport and allow his freedom.”
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is currently in London attending a world leaders’ summit on Syria but said she had yet to see the UN’s report on Assange.
Ms Bishop told reporters: “Mr Assange has not sought consular assistance from Australia for some years now and there has been a standing offer to him and until such time as he seeks consular assistance I will keep a watching brief on the matter.”
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