Wikileaks founder Julian Assange must be permitted to leave the embassy and be paid for his "deprivation of liberty," a United Nations legal panel declared. The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) found that Assange had been subjected to initial detention in Wandsworth prison, then house arrest and, finally, confinement at the Ecuadorian Embassy. The group also found that his detention was arbitrary because "he was held in isolation during the first stage of detention," as well as the "lack of diligence by the Swedish Prosecutor in its investigations," which led to his lengthy detention.
The ruling did not sit well with the U.K. Foreign Office, which declared that the report "changes nothing" and it will "formally contest the working group's opinion."
Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, called the opinion of the panel "ridiculous" and said Assange was a "fugitive of justice." The Met Police added that they will still create "every effort" to arrest Assange if in case he leaves the embassy, according to BBC News.
Assange has been embroiled in a controversy for sexual assault allegations for the past six years. He has relentlessly denied these allegations and insisted the relations were "consensual."
Since then, he has been seeking asylum at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London so he could avoid extradition to Sweden, HNGN previously reported.
