Monday 15 February 2016

Assange is not being detained and the UN is losing credibility

Go to the Ecuadorian Embassy in central London and you will not see a ring of steel, or dozens of police. Why? Because Julian Assange is free to leave the building. As the embassy is Ecuadorian property the UK police will not enter. Assange is hiding. He is detaining himself. The UN decision is both legally flawed and a serious undermining of its credibility as an international organisation. When did it get so disconnected from reality? The UN panel is a troika from Benin, South Kirea and Mexico. They are manifestly wrong. I practiced criminal law, human rights law and several extradition cases. This UN panel are legally and factually wrong. They have zero credibility and are undermining what the UN stands for.
Assange is wanted in Sweden to face a rape allegation. If he believes so much in freedom and democracy why is he hiding in an embassy of a country he has no real link to and not facing the music and clearing his name? He is detaining himself and anyone who suggests otherwise is detached from the legal and factual reality.
The Foreign Secretary's view and the background to this story is well expressed here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35504237