WikiLeaks' Assange may leave embassy after UN panel ruling

February 05, 2016 11:05

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange could walk out of the Ecuadoran embassy in London after more than three years on Friday, when a UN panel will rule whether he has been illegally held.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is expected to declare that his time stuck in a cramped embassy office amounts to arbitrary detention, according to the Swedish foreign ministry and Assange's lawyers.

Though the opinion is non-binding, the 44-year-old said he expects the panel's decision to change the game after three and a half years in confinement.

"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," he said in a statement.

If the group decides in his favour, however, Assange said he expects "the immediate return (of) my passport and the termination of further attempts to arrest me".

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