WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange declared victory Friday, expressing vindication over a United Nations panel’s judgment that the Swedish and UK governments have “arbitrarily detained” him since 2010.
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” Assange proclaimed as he stood before the cheering crowd with a copy of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) decision in his hands”.
The Australian was subject to 550 days of house arrest, during which period he sought refugee status at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London. He also fears that once extradited to Sweden, he could be further extradited to the USA for prosecution on espionage charges related to WikiLeaks’ massive release of classified documents in 2010. A bigger one may be whether Sweden might extradite him to the United States, where he could theoretically be sentenced to the death penalty if he is charged and convicted of publishing government secrets.
FJulian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks speaks to the media and members of the public from a balcony at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London.
A police officer outside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been living for more than three years after the country granted him political asylum.
In August, Swedish prosecutors said they would drop the investigation into two allegations of sexual molestation and one of unlawful coercion as the statute of limitations had run out.
“The opinion of the U.N. Working Group ignores the facts and the well-recognized protections of the British legal system”, a government spokesman said.
People aren’t too happy about the UN’s decision on Julian Assange. He is hiding from justice in the Ecuadorian embassy. “The UN’s highest authority on detention has now held that both states have failed to provide adequate consideration for the risks faced by Mr. Assange”. There had been intense interest in whether Mr Assange would leave the embassy, but it was clear he will remain inside the building as long as there is a threat of arrest.
Meanwhile, Assange’s lawyer Per Samuelsson said a ruling in his client’s favor meant Swedish chief prosecutor Marianne Ny would have to ask a court to lift the arrest warrant issued against the Australian activists.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions “considers that the various forms of deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected constitute a form of arbitrary detention”, South Korean worldwide law expert Seong-Phil Hong explained.
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It added that it has no power to interfere with a criminal investigation against Assange and that Sweden has legal safeguards in place that ensure he would not face a risk of refoulement contrary to worldwide human rights obligations to the United States from Sweden.. The Met Police added that they will still create “every effort” to arrest Assange if in case he leaves the embassy, according to BBC News.
