GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 11th April, 2019) Fundamental rights of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who was arrested in London earlier in the day, are fully protected by the international law, but it is unclear if the United Kingdom will respect this, Micol Savia, the permanent representative of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) to the United Nations in Geneva, told Sputnik.
Assange was arrested in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London as Ecuador had withdrawn asylum it had granted to the WikiLeaks founder. The UK police confirmed that the arrest had been made "on behalf of the United States authorities." The US Department of Justice said Thursday it was charging Assange with conspiracy related to a 2010 release of stolen documents provided by former US army soldier Chelsea Manning. According to the UK court, the United States has until June 12 to submit all the papers necessary for extradition.
"Let's see what's going to happen now. Under international law the UK cannot extradite Assange to the US if there are risks that his life or liberty could be at risk of persecution there. And we all know that those risks exist ... So, international law protects Julian Assange's fundamental rights. Let's see if the United Kingdom is capable and willing to uphold its international human rights obligations and commitments. Hopefully they will," Savia said.
The association representative stressed that the United Kingdom was party to the 1951 convention on the status of refugees and its 1967 protocol as well as other relevant treaties.
"The UK is also party to all international instruments enshrining the principle of non-refoulement, which forbids the rendering of a person into a jurisdiction where his/her life or freedom would be endangered," Savia said.
The UK court found Assange guilty of breaching bail conditions and kept him in custody. Assange, meanwhile, pleaded not guilty to failure to surrender.
Assange has gained worldwide fame after WikiLeaks released a large number of files, including some on US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and other sensitive documents.
Since 2012, Assange had been residing in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he faced a probe over allegations of sexual offenses. Assange denied those allegations and called them politically motivated. While the Swedish police dropped the investigation in 2017, Assange was still wary of being extradited to the United States.
