A UN panel has ruled in favour the Wikileaks fonder, Julian Assange saying that he had been ‘unlawfully’ detained.
The panel also said that Sweden, Britain should compensate WikiLeaks founder Assange for illegal detention.
Meanwhile London’s Mteropiltan police has said that Assange will be arrested if he left the Ecuadorian embassy, where he took asylum in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex assault claims, which he denies.
Assange had earlier tweeted saying he will accept arrest if the UN panel ruled against him.
Assange: I will accept arrest by British police on Friday if UN rules against me. More info: https://t.co/Mb6gXlz7QS pic.twitter.com/mffVsqKj5w
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) February 4, 2016
Assange had complained to the UN in September 2014 alleging that he was being arbitrarily detained in the embassy as he cold not leave the embassy without being arrested.
In his complaint in 2014, Assange had argued that living in a 30 square metres of the Ecuadorian embassy with no access to snlight or fresh air had taken its toll on his mental health.
Curiously, the panel’s previous rulings have gone against countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Myanmar- all notorious for deplorable human rights records.
According to BBC, the UN panel informed about its ruling to both Sweden and UK in December last year. The ruling is, however, not binding on either of the two countries.
The British foreign office has recently said that it had an obligation to extradite Assange to Sweden.
The Swedish prosecutors had dropped two sex assault claims against the Wikileaks founder, but he continue to face the more serious allegations of rape.
More to follow
