United Kingdom will contest UN opinion on ‘arbitrary detention’ of Julian Assange

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) is an expert group, founded in 1991 with a mandate “to investigate allegations of individuals being deprived of their liberty in an arbitrary way or inconsistently with worldwide human rights standards, and to recommend remedies such as release from detention and compensation, when appropriate”.

The WikiLeaks founder, who faces a rape allegation in Sweden, urged Britain to let him walk free from Ecuador’s London embassy following the panel’s findings Friday.

The UK Foreign Office has said that it will contest the Working Group’s decision and authorities are adamant that the arrest warrants and extradition orders remain in place.

The report seems to imply Sweden should have made more of an effort to comprise with Assange.

Journalists and supporters had waited since before dawn for a glimpse of the man at the heart of an worldwide legal battle involving Ecuador’s government, British police and Swedish prosecutors.

“What right does this government, or the United States government, or the Swedish government have to deny my children their father?” he said below the yellow, blue and red Ecuadorian flag.

Now the case has mutated into a complicated global drama involving Britain, Sweden, the United States, Ecuador, a host of human rights lawyers and the United Nations. FILE – In this December 5, 2011 file photo, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange makes a statement to media gathered outside the High Court in London. “That will happen, one way or another”. He wants to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations, which he has repeatedly denied and for which he has never been charged.

The task of the UN Working Group was to decide if he was being arbitrarily detained.

Workers and young people in the UK, US, Sweden and internationally must work for the defeat of the efforts to silence Assange and demand his immediate freedom. As the report concluded, “The exercise and implementation of the investigation method should be conducted in compliance with the rule of proportionality, including undertaking to explore alternative ways of administering justice”.

Britain and Sweden can not simply ignore WGAD’s findings because it is them in the dock, or because they disagree with Assange’s whistleblowing activities.

“We have today a really significant victory that has brought a smile to my face and I hope to many others as well”, he told reporters by video link from the embassy. Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond called the panel’s decision ridiculous.

She called it a “damning indictment” of the way Mr Assange has been treated and showed his willingness to co-operate with the Swedish investigation. Plus, governments have up to two months after being notified to appeal a unfavorable ruling – directly back to the working group.

This leaves the question of what would happen to Assange if he chooses to leave the embassy as he said he would.

The panel said his stay at the embassy – which he entered voluntarily in 2012 – constitutes arbitrary detention and that he should be set free and compensated for lost time.