A United Nations panel has ruled that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained”, the BBC reported on Thursday.
No comment was immediately available from the United Nations in Geneva, where the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has been considering a request by Assange for a ruling.
Assange, 44, is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of rape in 2010, which he denies. He took refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition.
Earlier today, in a statement posted on the Wikileaks Twitter account, Assange said he will leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he took refuge in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, on Friday and accept arrest if a UN the panel investigating his case rules against him.
in August 2015, Britain decided to make a “formal protest” to Ecuador over Assange, a minister said Thursday, as two of the four allegations against him expired because of the statute of limitations.
The Foreign Office in London said its ambassador in Quito would make the protest Thursday, calling Assange’s residence at Ecuador’s embassy in London an “abuse of diplomatic relations”.
“Now that the statute of limitations has expired on certain offences, I am obliged to drop part of the investigation,” prosecutor Marianne Ny said.
