London: Britain on Friday said it would contest a United Nations panel opinion that Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was a victim of arbitrary detention and said the computer hacker would be arrested if he left the embassy.
"This changes nothing. We completely reject any claim that Julian Assange is a victim of arbitrary detention. The UK has already made clear to the UN that we will formally contest the working group's opinion," a government spokesman said.
Read: UN panel says Assange should be freed, should be entitled to compensation
"He is, in fact, voluntarily avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain in the Ecuadorean embassy," the spokesman said. "An allegation of rape is still outstanding and a European Arrest Warrant in place, so the UK continues to have a legal obligation to extradite him to Sweden."
