UN Panel Urges Britain, Sweden to End Assange's “Deprivation of Liberty”

As anticipated, the finding by the Geneva-based UN working group on arbitrary detention criticized legal action against Assange by both European governments and blamed them for preventing him from leaving the Ecuadorian embassy in Knightsbridge, central London.

The panel called on the Swedish and British authorities to end Assange’s “deprivation of liberty”, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement and offer him compensation.

The report said, “The working group considered that Mr. Assange has been subjected to different forms of deprivation of liberty: initial detention in Wandsworth prison, which was followed by house arrest and his confinement at the Ecuadorian embassy.”

“Having concluded that there was a continuous deprivation of liberty, the working group also found that the detention was arbitrary because he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention and because of the lack of diligence by the Swedish prosecutor in its investigations, which resulted in the lengthy detention of Mr. Assange,” it went on to say.

The report added, “The working group therefore requested Sweden and the United Kingdom to assess the situation of Mr. Assange to ensure his safety and physical integrity, to facilitate the exercise of his right to freedom of movement in an expedient manner, and to ensure the full enjoyment of his rights guaranteed by the international norms on detention.”

“The working group also considered that the detention should be brought to an end and that Mr. Assange should be afforded the right to compensation,” it went on to say.

In its statement, the committee said one of its members, Leigh Toomey, had declined to take part in the inquiry because she, like Assange, is an Australian citizen. One of the other members had disagreed with the finding.

The statement said, “Given that Mr. Assange is an Australian citizen, one of the members of the working group who shares his nationality recused herself from participating in the deliberations. Another member of the working group disagreed with the position of the majority and considered that the situation of Mr. Assange is not one of detention and therefore falls outside the mandate of the working group.”

Only three of the five-member panel therefore supported the finding against Britain and Sweden.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said, “In light of this decision, it’s clear that any criminal charges against Mr. Assange in connection with Wikileaks’ publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional.”

“Indeed, even the prolonged criminal investigation of Wikileaks itself has had a profound chilling effect. The justice department should end that investigation and make clear that no publisher will ever be prosecuted for the act of journalism,” he added.