Julian Assange Arbitrarily Detained – UN Panel

A UN panel is set to rule that Julian Assange was arbitrarily detained for the nearly four years to evade a rape investigation. The Ecuadorian embassy in London has served as the refuge of the WikiLeaks founder for the last 3 1/2 years. Assange made an appeal to the UN panel indicating that his rights as a political refugee were being infringed as he is unable to seek asylum in Ecuador.

The 2010 rape allegations in Sweden were denied by the former computer hacker who said it was a ploy meant to bring him to the United States for a criminal investigation on the activities of WikiLeaks. The leaks resulted to the publishing of numerous secret US diplomatic cables showing the critical appraisal of the US of world leaders, including Russian president Vladimir Putin and the royal family in Saudi Arabia.

Britain denied the charge of arbitrary detention and said Julian Assange voluntarily avoided arrest when he fled into the embassy.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention favored the side of Assange. A statement by the 44-year-old Australian indicated that he is expecting his passport to be returned and attempts in arresting him will stop if he prevails in the appeal. However, he said he will leave his quarters inside the Ecuadorian embassy and expects to be arrested and face extradition to Sweden if he loses the appeal.

The publication of a classified US military video showing Apache helicopters attacking people in Baghdad along with news staff from Reuters on WikiLeaks in 2010 gave Julian Assange global recognition. The group also released more than 90,000 classified documents showing details of the Afghanistan military campaign that was led by the United States. Nearly 400,000 internal military reports showing the details of the US operations in Iraq were also released by the group. This was followed by the release of over 250,000 US embassy classified cables along with nearly 3 million other cables dating back to 1973.

Julian Assange contended that his stay at the embassy is tantamount to arbitrary detention. A Swedish Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said the judgment of the UN working group indicated that Assange was arbitrarily detained, which breaks international commitments.

Julian Assange Arbitrarily Detained - UN Panel - image credit: en.wikipedia.org

Assange added that his basic liberties were deprived from him, including access to suitable medical facilities, fresh air and sunlight, and procedural and legal security. Attention may be drawn to the fate of Assange, but it may have no immediate effect on investigations against him.

A spokeswoman for the British government said they have been consistent in saying that the UK has never arbitrarily detain Assange, who has voluntarily avoided lawful arrest by staying inside the embassy of Ecuador.

She said the UK has the legal obligate to extradite Assange to Sweden due to the rape allegation and European Arrest Warrant. The UN decision will have no effect on the rape investigation, according to Swedish prosecutors. The WikiLeaks investigation by a US Grand Jury is currently ongoing. Josh Earnest, spokesman for the White House, said the effect of the pronouncement of the US remains uncertain.

Earnest added that Julian Assange is currently facing serious charges in Sweden, which asked the UK government extradite him. Earnest said the situation will eventually be resolved by the two countries.

The UK has spent over $15 million in providing guards outside the Ecuadorian embassy for nearly four years. International Service for Human Rights director Philip Lynch said it appears there is a genuine risk of being arrested or questioned if Assange left the embassy. He said an arbitrary detention decision does not automatically make the existing warrants and requests for extradition illegal.

One of the Swedish lawyers of Julian Assange, Per Samuelson, said Assange should be immediately released if the time spent by Assange in the embassy is considered to be in custody by the UN Panel. Samuelson said it is essential for the body to find the actions of Sweden inconsistent with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Since the confinement of Julian Assange, documents were still being published by WikiLeaks including topics covering the biggest multinational trade deal in the world, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Posted by James Fried on Friday February 05 2016, 9:36 AM EDT. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under World. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0