Here’s the opinion of the UN working group on arbitrary detention, which has concluded that Britain and Sweden have arbitrarily detained Julian Assange. It calls on both countries to release him, and pay him compensation. UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Assange Opinion (PDF) UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Assange Opinion (Text) I wondered in my earlier post how the working group might classify the “detention”—in fact, it puts it in what it calls “category III”, where detention is arbitrary because of a grave non-observance of the right to a fair trial. I thought that was obviously the least likely possibility (Sweden being unable to put Julian Assange on trial at all, as things stand) but the working group has concluded otherwise. The reasoning of the working group is thin, to say the least. It begins by noting that Assange was segregated from other prisoners for the ten days he was remanded in custody in Wandsworth prison—and simply goes on to say (para. 86)— arbitrariness is inherent in this form of deprivation of liberty, if the individual is left outside the cloak of legal protection, including the access to legal assistance … without considering whether the decision to segregate him was justified, and without considering the fact that he had lawyers and applied for bail, so was not “left outside the cloak of legal protection”. On this approach, every segregated prisoner in the UK is arbitrarily detained. Assange’s detention, the working group goes on, continued for 550 days in the form of what it calls “house arrest” (para. 87): During this prolonged period of house arrest, Mr. Assange had been subjected to various forms of harsh restrictions, including monitoring using an electric tag, an obligation to report to the police every day and a bar on being outside of his place of residence at night. In this regard, the Working Group has no choice but to query what has prohibited the unfolding of judicial management of any kind in a reasonable manner from occurring for such extended period of time. This is of course the period in which Julian Assange was released on conditional bail and living at Ellingham Hall. Its quite true he had a curfew, and had to be there during the night hours. It’s true he was tagged, and had to report daily to the police. But otherwise as I understand it he was free to come and go. And these admittedly strict bail conditions are understandable given that Assange had already flown out of Sweden, where he was wanted. The working group does not consider why those bail conditions were imposed, the fact that Assange could have applied for a variation of bail, or that his move to the Ecuadorian embassy can be said to justify, after the fact, the judge’s imposition of bail conditions. Breathtakingly, the working group fails to mention the fact that Assange entered the Ecuadorian embassy after losing his Supreme Court battle against extradition. And as far as his prolonged residence … Continue reading The UN working group’s Assange opinion