UK, Sweden Reject Pro-Assange Ruling By UN Panel

The UK and Sweden have rejected the ruling by the UN panel favouring Julian Assange.

The UN Panel examining the case of Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange on Friday ruled that he should be allowed to walk free and compensated for his, “deprivation of liberty”.

The UK’s foreign office rejected the UN panel’s finding in a statement, saying that the UK was ‘deeply frustrated’ by the Assange case and will be formally contesting the ruling.

“The opinion of the UN working group ignores the facts and the well-recognized protections of the British legal system," the statement read. “He is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy.”

Sweden also voiced opposition to the ruling in a letter said that the UN panel does not have the right to interfere in the ongoing case handled by the Swedish Prosecution Authority.

Karin Rosander, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Prosecution Authority, also said the call for Assange’s release “has no formal impact on the ongoing investigation, according to Swedish law.”

Assange is facing arrest over rape and sexual abuse allegations in Sweden after he lost a legal battle in June 2012. Assange denies the abuse accusations and describes it as a ploy to hand him over to the US, where he is wanted over release of classified information about Iraq and Afghanistan war on his website, Wikileaks.

The Geneva-based UN panel insisted that Assange’s detention “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.”

“Assange has been arbitrarily detained by Sweden and the United Kingdom since his arrest in London on 7 December 2010,” the legal panel noted.

The lone dissenting opinion in the UN Assange judgement is a prosecutor from Ukraine, Wikileaks tweeted earlier today.