Group’s opinion entirely ignore

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As a result, the Working Group requested the Swedish and UK Governments ‘to assess the situation of Mr. Assange, to ensure his safety and physical integrity, to facilitate the exercise of his right to freedom of movement in an expedient manner, and to ensure the full enjoyment of his rights guaranteed by the international norms on detention.’ It also stated that it considered that an adequate remedy would be to bring Mr Assange’s detention to an end and to afford him an enforceable buy phone number list right to compensation.

There is, however, an enormous elephant in the room which the Working s; that Mr Assange voluntarily entered the Ecuadorian embassy and, in breach of his bail conditions, has remained their ever since. Moreover, even prior to his taking refuge, Mr Assange was not in detention but on bail, albeit subject to a number of conditions. The Working Group analysed Mr Assange’s situation as having encompassed three forms of ‘deprivation of liberty’. The first was the 10 days spent in HMP Wandsworth between 7 and 16 December 2010 before being granted bail. The Working Group ‘expressed its concern that he [Mr Assange] was detained in isolation at the very beginning of an episode that lasted longer than 5 years. The arbitrariness is inherent in this from of deprivation of liberty.’ This, however is an entirely ex post facto reading of the situation. There was no way the UK authorities could have known then how long matters would continue. And the fact that Mr Assange was able to access a court and gain his release on bail, one might think, suggests that his initial detention was not arbitrary in the sense of lacking legal safeguards.