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            UN Panel Rules WikiLinks Founder 'Arbitrarily Detained'

   by VOA News

   A U.N. panel has ruled WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been
   arbitrarily detained since 2012.

   Assange said he plans to leave Ecuador's embassy in London where he has
   sought refuge for nearly four years, but British police say they remain
   obliged to arrest him. Assange is wanted in Sweden where faces a rape
   allegation, which he denies.

   The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, a panel of independent
   experts, issued a statement early Friday saying "the various forms of
   deprivation of liberty to which Julian Assange has been subjected
   constitute a form of arbitrary detention."

   Not legally binding

   The panel called for him to be released and compensated. But the ruling
   Friday by the U.N. is not legally binding.

   Because of its extradition agreements with Sweden, Britain says it will
   arrest him if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy. Sweden says it plans to
   keep up its investigation of him.

   His supporters say he plans to leave the embassy later Friday and will
   hold a news conference.

   Assange, an Australian national, has said he wants his passport
   returned and a termination of all attempts to arrest him.

   The former computer hacker angered the United States by releasing
   hundreds of thousands of secret U.S. government files.

   He has since been linked in Sweden with a number of crimes, including
   one of rape in 2010. The statute of limitations has run out on the
   other allegations, but the one on rape stands and Swedish officials
   have said a U.N. ruling would have no impact on their investigation.

   His supporters say the woman in the rape case has said Swedish police
   "railroaded" her into accusing him.

   Website

   Among the secret files that his website published were hundreds of
   thousands of documents detailing U.S. military operations in
   Afghanistan and Iraq.

   It also released a video of a 2007 U.S. helicopter gunship attack in
   Baghdad that killed 12 people, including two staff members of the
   Reuters news agency.

   Documents leaked included thousands of U.S. diplomatic cables from U.S.
   embassies around the world dating back several decades. Those cables,
   in some cases, contained details of what U.S. diplomats were saying
   about other world leaders; revelations that embarrassed U.S. officials.

   In the United States, a grand jury is still investigating the leaks.

   White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Thursday said Britain and Sweden
   would have to resolve Assange's case.

   "It's unclear to me exactly what impact a pronouncement from the United
   Nations would have on this situation," Earnest said.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/un-rights-panel-rules-wikileaks-found
   er-was-arbitrarily-detained/3177997.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/un-rights-panel-rules-wikileaks-founder-was-arbitrarily-detained/3177997.html