WikiLeaks
editor Julian Assange says the governments of Sweden and the UK are
contributing to human rights abuses by continuing to deprive him of
freedom, one year after the UN found he was being “arbitrarily
detained” in London.
Assange, a
co-founder of the whistleblowing website, has been living within the
confines of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London since 2012.
In February
2016, a United Nations panel found that Sweden and the UK had been
involved in “arbitrarily” detaining Assange since his initial
arrest in 2010.
It called
for an end to his detention and to “afford him the right to
compensation.”
One year on
from the non-legally binding conclusion, Assange is urging the
governments of the UK and Sweden to “do the right thing”
and “restore my liberty.”
Referencing
fruitless appeals by the UK over the UN ruling, Assange said a
“refusal” to respect the view of the UN Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention comes at a “terrible cost” to human rights in
the rest of the world.
“[O]ther
states can now illegally detain Swedish and UK citizens with
effective impunity and the UN human rights system more broadly is
imperilled,” Assange said in a statement issued Monday.
Assurances
of freedom outside the embassy may be Assange’s primary concern,
but the 45-year-old could soon face another in the form of eviction
by Ecuadorian politician Patricio Zuquilanda.
Zuquilanda
has promised to boot Assange out of the Ecuadorian embassy in London
if he is successful in this month’s general election, El Universo
reports.
The
Australian’s current place of refuge stems from a fear that sexual
misconduct and rape allegations against him in Sweden, which he has
denied, may result in extradition to the US regarding
WikiLeaks-related activities.
Sweden’s
handling of the case was one aspect panned by the UN panel last year.
A “lack of
diligence” by the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office had resulted in
Assange’s “lengthy loss of liberty,” the working group
concluded last February.
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