Julian Assange ‘arbitrarily detained,’ UN panel says

Julian Assange has been “arbitrarily detained” by Sweden and the United Kingdom since his arrest in 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention says.

The expert panel, in a statement, called on the Swedish and British authorities to “end Mr Assange’s deprivation of liberty, respect his physical integrity and freedom of movement, and afford him the right to compensation.”

Prosecutors in Sweden want to question Assange over allegations of rape stemming from a working visit he made to the country in 2010 when WikiLeaks was attracting international attention for its secret-spilling way.

Assange has consistently denied the allegations but declined to return to Sweden to meet with prosecutors and eventually sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has lived since June 2012.

Associated Press contributed to this report.