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U.N. Panel Calls for Julian Assange’s Freedom from “Arbitrary Detention”

HeadlineFeb 05, 2016

A United Nations panel has officially concluded WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” and should be allowed to walk free. Assange has been holed up in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London for more than three years. He wants to avoid extradition to Sweden over sex crimes allegations, which he has repeatedly denied and for which he has never been charged. He fears Sweden would extradite him to the United States, where he could face trial for WikiLeaks’ revelations. The U.N. panel’s judgment is not legally binding. British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond dismissed it as “ridiculous.” Julian Assange spoke just before our broadcast today; we’ll bring you excerpts later in the broadcast.

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