WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Arbitrarily Detained By Sweden And UK, Panel Finds

It did not change its earlier stance that it would arrest Assange for his extradition to Sweden as soon as he leaves the Ecuador embassy, where he has been living since 2012.

Assange, 44, says he fears Sweden will extradite him to the United States, where authorities were enraged by his organisation’s publishing of hundreds of thousands of secret US diplomatic cables.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has found a surprising ally – a little known United Nations panel that has decided he has been unfairly detained in Britain while seeking to avoid extradition to Sweden to answer allegations of sexual misconduct.

That office, in a letter to Swedish authorities, said it will interview Assange and asked for a list of questions the Swedish prosecutor wants the Ecuadorian prosecutor to ask the Wikileaks founder.

The arrest warrant would not go away, however, and Assange surrendered to police in London and was detained until his bail was granted. The UN panel also said the methods used in the prolonged case are “disproportionate” and that Assange had been denied human, civil and political rights. This legal gray area and Sweden’s historical conduct does not lead to much optimism that Assange’s safety will be guaranteed in Sweden.

Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond branded the working group’s findings as “frankly ridiculous” and said the Australian was “hiding from justice”.

Leaked documents showed Ecuadorian diplomats were becoming increasingly concerned about Mr Assange’s behaviour and drew up a number of weird plans to allow him to leave the building without being arrested by waiting police officers.

The WikiLeaks founder had previously stated that he was open to a dialogue with investigators, provided that the interviews were done in the Latin American country’s embassy in London, which had been his home for the past four years, reported India News.

Why did the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention get involved in this?

Mr Assange said Sweden and the United Kingdom had opportunities in the past few weeks to appeal against the decision but had not taken any action, so the matter was now a “settled law”.

A Swedish investigation into the crimes was launched, then dropped for lack of evidence, and then started again as prosecutors sought to question Assange about possible molestation and rape. Protesters have asked Assange’s supporters to gather Friday outside the Ecuador embassy in London.