WikiLeaks founder Assange leaves fate up to UN panel

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange says he could leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London on Friday pending an opinion by a UN panel on his alleged rape case — but Britain says it would have to arrest him.

Assange, who is wanted for extradition on a rape accusation in Sweden and has lived in the embassy since June 2012, says he expected to be treated as a free man if the panel rules in his favor.

In September 2014, Assange filed a complaint against Sweden and Britain to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, claiming his confinement in the embassy amounted to illegal detention.

“Should I prevail and the state parties be found to have acted unlawfully, I expect the immediate return of my passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest me,” he says in a statement.

If the UN group rules against him he said “I shall exit the embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal,” he adds.

The British government says it was under an obligation to arrest him in both eventualities.

“An allegation of rape is still outstanding and a European arrest warrant in place, so the UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite Mr Assange to Sweden,” a government spokesman says.

“We have been consistently clear that Mr Assange has never been arbitrarily detained by the UK but is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorian embassy.”

— AFP