WikiLeaks 'waiting for official confirmation' after BBC report UN ruled in Assange's favor
Published time: 4 Feb, 2016 09:38Edited time: 4 Feb, 2016 09:46
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WikiLeaks said it is “waiting for official confirmation” after a BBC report claimed a UN panel has ruled the arbitrary detention of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London is illegal.
Assange earlier said in case of a favorable decision he expects he expects “the immediate return” of his passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest him.
The UN, however, neither confirmed nor denied to RT that the panel has ruled in favor of Assange’s illegal detention.
The WikiLeaks founder filed a complaint against Sweden and Britain to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in September 2014.
BBC is reporting claim that UN has found for Assange We are waiting official confirmation justice4assange.com/UN-Working-Gro…
Assange also said that he would accept his fate and allow the UK police to arrest him if the UN panel investigating his case ruled against him.
According to Assange’s lawyer Thomas Olsson, Assange has been sheltered in the Ecuadorian embassy in London since June 2012, after having been granted asylum by the Central American country.
A spokesman for the British police said they would arrest Assange if he leaves the embassy.
"The warrant is still in place. If he leaves the embassy we will make every effort to arrest him," the spokesman said, as cited by Reuters.
Here's the membership of the UN panel which has reportedly ruled in Assange's favour re: his "detention"
In Sweden, Assange is wanted for questioning by the authorities regarding allegations of sexual assault against two women in 2010, which he has always denied. Assange fears that if he goes to Sweden he will eventually have to face a tribunal in the US for publishing classified documents through Wikileaks. Sweden has refused to guarantee that this would not happen.
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. One outstanding allegation of rape remains, which Assange will still be questioned about.