He said the ruling “raises serious questions as to the scope of the mandate of the working group”. He told CNN en Español that United Kingdom authorities should now let Assange travel on to Ecuador. Ecuador granted him political asylum and, as with other diplomatic missions around the world, its embassy is considered sovereign territory.
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“What right does this government, or the USA government, or the Swedish government have to deny my children their father?” he said below the yellow, blue and red Ecuadorian flag.
Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London for 3½ years, saying he’s afraid that if he leaves, he’ll end up facing the death penalty in the United States for allegedly revealing government secrets through Wikileaks.
A British judge rules that Assange can be extradited to Sweden.
Why is Julian Assange back in the news?
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled Friday (Feb 5) that Assange had been “arbitrarily detained” by Britain and Sweden, and that he should be able to claim compensation.
Sweden has also rejected the panel’s decision. “Mr. Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point”.
British authorities said they don’t feel the same way. Assange, an Australian national, faces extradition to Sweden where he is wanted for alleged sex assault.
Baltasar Garzon, the head of Assange’s global legal team, called on the governments to vacate the worldwide arrest warrant. The two countries vowed to dispute the panel’s ruling.
Mr Assange said it was a “really significant victory that has brought a smile to my face”.
The WikiLeaks founder says it is “now a matter of settled law” that he has been wrongly detained.
And it was hailed as a “resounding victory” by his lawyer Melinda Taylor.
“We’ve said it from the beginning, but now we’re not the only ones”.
Jennifer Robinson praised the panel’s finding that Assange has been a victim of arbitrary detention and should be freed.
March 13, 2015: Swedish prosecutors offer to question Assange in the embassy.
Robinson said Assange has exercised his legal rights in a lawful manner. “The binding nature of its opinions derives from the collaboration by States in the procedure, the adversarial nature of is findings and also by the authority given to the WGAD by the UN Human Rights Council”, explained a note to the editors on the press release.
“We are deeply frustrated that this unacceptable situation is still being allowed to continue”. Here is the legal opinion.
Britain has accused Ecuador of perverting the course of justice by allowing Mr Assange to remain in the embassy. He got public support from filmmakers Oliver Stone and Michael Moore and human rights activist Bianca Jagger, and spent his time under court-ordered “house arrest” at a luxurious country estate owned by his friend, the journalist Vaughan Smith. It is the end of the road for legal arguments… put simply, those arguments lost.
Hammond has called Assange a “fugitive from justice” and the Foreign Office says it will “formally contest the working group’s opinion”.
“The Working Group additionally thought-about that the detention must be delivered to an finish and that Mr Assange must be afforded the proper to compensation.”
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Assange fled to the safe confines of Ecuadorian Embassy in 2012.
