UK PM says UN panel decision on Assange detention ‘ridiculous’

PanARMENIAN.Net - Julian Assange should leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London and submit himself to a Swedish arrest warrant over allegations of rape to bring an end to “this whole sorry saga”, UK Prime Minister said, according to the Guardian.

David Cameron dismissed as “ridiculous” the findings of a UN panel that the WikiLeaks founder had been subject to arbitrary detention as he said that Assange had in fact detained himself.

“What he should do is come out of that embassy and face the arrest warrant that is against him,” Cameron told MPs. “He is being asked to stand trial in Sweden, a country with a fair reputation for justice and he should bring to an end this whole sorry saga.”

The Geneva-based UN working group on arbitrary detention had called on Britain and Sweden to end Assange’s “deprivation of liberty”.

The countries last week rejected the findings by the panel, which said that Assange had been arbitrarily detained since his arrest in 2010 and during his stay at the Ecuadorian embassy in the Knightsbridge area of central London where he sought asylum in June 2012. Assange is wanted for questioning over an allegation of rape in 2010, which he denies.

Cameron said: “I think this was a ridiculous decision. You’ve got a man here with an outstanding allegation of rape against him. He barricaded himself into the Ecuadorian embassy and yet claims he was arbitrarily detained. The only person who detained himself was himself.”