Julian Assange says he will 'accept arrest' on Friday if UN rules against him

[Thomas the Tank Engine]

The WikiLeaks founder

Julian Assange

says he will agree to be arrested by British police on Friday if a UN investigation into his three-and-a-half years holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in central London does not rule that he is being illegally detained.

 

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy since June 2012, after Swedish authorities sought his extradition. He has not been charged with any offence, but has been sought for questioning in Sweden in relation to sexual assault allegations made against by two women against him.

 

The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention is set to hand down a determination on Assange’s case on Friday morning.

 

The decision is a last-ditch legal attempt by Assange for a ruling that his detention is arbitrary and unlawful. It rests on a challenge to the European extradition system, his inability to access the benefit of the grant of asylum by Ecuador, and what he argues is his long-term detention.

 

In a statement issued by WikiLeaks on Twitter, Assange said: “Should the UN announce tomorrow that I have lost my case against the United Kingdom and Sweden, I shall exit the embassy at noon on Friday to accept arrest by British police as there is no meaningful prospect of further appeal.

 

 

 

 

 

Read the rest: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/04/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrest-friday-un-investigation