UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Opinion No. 54/2015 (Julian Assange)

Opinion No. 54/2015 was adopted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention at its 74th session, which ended on 4 December 2015, in response to a complaint brought on my behalf. The Working Group had sent the complaint to Sweden and the United Kingdom in September 2014; Sweden replied on 3 November 2014 and the United Kingdom on 13 November 2014.

The complaint concerned the restrictions on my liberty arising from a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden: according to the submission, ten days in Wandsworth prison from 7 December 2010, 550 days under house arrest and, from June 2012, confinement in Ecuador's London embassy, where I had sought asylum. The Working Group concluded: 'The deprivation of liberty of Julian Assange is arbitrary and in contravention of articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 7, 9 (1), (3) and (4), 10 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.' It asked both governments to ensure my safety and freedom of movement, and considered that I should be given an enforceable right to compensation.

The decision was by majority. One member, Leigh Toomey, did not take part because she shares my Australian nationality, and another, Vladimir Tochilovsky, appended a dissenting opinion arguing that I had not been deprived of my liberty.

The Working Group made the opinion public on 5 February 2016; it was later issued as UN document A/HRC/WGAD/2015/54, dated 6 April 2016. Swedish and British officials rejected the finding immediately, maintaining that it had no legal force and did not change my position (Associated Press).