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UN working group deems detention of WikiLeaks founder Assange "arbitrary"

Xinhua, February 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention announced on Friday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" since the Australian national was first arrested in London in December 2010.

   "It is a very complicated and unusual case," said the Working Group's Secretary Christophe Peschoux, adding that "it's important to make a distinction between the legality of a detention and its arbitrariness."

   Assange's "human rights infringements" were triggered by an investigation by a Swedish prosecutor five years ago based on allegations of sexual misconduct.

   To date, the investigation has made no progress and no charges have been formally brought against the founder of WikiLeaks. 

   According to the report, Assange's detention is deemed arbitrary because he was held in isolation for 10 days in the first stage of detention and because of the Swedish prosecutor's lack of diligence in his investigations which resulted in Assange' lengthy detention.

   The Australian was subject to 550 days of house arrest, during which period he sought refugee status at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London.

   The Republic of Ecuador granted Assange asylum because of Assange's fear that if were to be extradited to Sweden, he would then be sent to the United States to face serious criminal charges.

   Assange has been unable to leave the embassy since August 2012, and is subject to extensive surveillance by British law enforcement.

   "The Working Group is issuing an opinion, it is not issuing rulings," Peschoux highlighted, adding that "opinion in itself is an opinion and it is legally binding to the extent that it is based on international human rights norms which have been ratified by states."

   "The Working Group maintains that the arbitrary detention of Assange should be brought to an end, that his physical integrity and freedom of movement be respected, and that he should be entitled to an enforceable right to compensation," current head of the expert panel Seong-Phil Hong said.

   Three out of the four voting experts agreed with the consensus. One of the five members of the expert panel recused from deliberations in light of her Australian nationality.

   The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was established in 1991 by the former Commission on Human Rights to investigate cases of alleged arbitrary deprivation of liberty.