The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has ruled that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange was arbitrarily detained in London by Sweden and the UK after his arrest in December 2010.
A group of WGAD experts called on the Swedish and British authorities to stop depriving Assange of his freedom, respect his physical integrity, and give him the right to compensation.
The committee found that the detention was arbitrary, which is why Julian Assange was initially held in solitary confinement in Wandsworth prison, and because the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office's lack of diligence in its investigations caused great loss of freedom.
Assange remains under house arrest at the Ecuadorian embassy in London since he was granted asylum by Ecuador in 2012. He was arrested in 2010 in London under a warrant from Sweden over allegations that he had raped two women while living in that country.
Assange announced yesterday that he was prepared to hand himself over to the authorities if the UN decided that he was not being held illegally.
While today's announcement will bring Assange some relief, but according to the BBC it will not suspend the arrest warrant issued by the Swedish authorities and held by the British police.
