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The Guardian view on Julian Assange: no victim of arbitrary detention
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has played a valuable role in highlighting unjust and improper imprisonment, often of political prisoners. Only last October, it condemned the Maldives courts for imprisoning the first democratically elected president, Mohamed Nasheed, on terrorist charges without a fair trial. In 2007, it condemned the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi. But its latest opinion, which is expected to be formally published tomorrow, that the WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is being detained arbitrarily, is simply wrong. He is not being detained arbitrarily. Three-and-a-half years ago, he sought refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in order to avoid extradition to Sweden to face allegations of sex offences. He had fought extradition through every court, and at each his case was rejected. “Arbitrary” detention means that due legal process has not been observed. It has. This is a publicity stunt ...http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/feb/04/the-guardian-view-on-julian-assange-no-victim-of-arbitrary-detention
