Justice pour Tous Internationale calls on the UK Government to immediately release Julian Assange, condemning his prolonged arbitrary detention, which contravenes Articles 7, 9, 14, and 19 of the ICCPR. Assange has been deprived of liberty for nearly 14 years, with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) recognizing his detention as arbitrary. The UK has not complied with WGAD’s 2015 ruling and instead re-arrested Assange in 2019. The decision to extradite him to the US raises serious legal and ethical concerns, threatening journalistic freedom and violating human rights principles, including the prohibition of torture. The High Court’s March 2024 ruling allowing Assange to contest his extradition is insufficient, as it does not address the core issue of his ongoing arbitrary detention. The UK is urged to align its practices with international human rights standards.
Justice for All International urges the UK Government to immediately release Julian Assange. We express our profound concern over the situations of Assange and Murray, which starkly contravene Articles 7, 9, 14, and 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Assange has been arbitrarily detained by the UK for almost 14 years. In 2015, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) highlighted Assange’s ongoing deprivation of liberty since 2010 (see A/HRC/WGAD/2015/54, paras 77 – 85). Julian Assange has endured various forms of arbitrary deprivation of liberty since his arrest on 7 December 2010. The WGAD’s Opinion No. 54/2015 concluded that Assange had been arbitrarily detained by the UK, in violation of the ICCPR.
The WGAD’s decision has not been complied with by the UK Government. Instead, Assange was re-arrested in April 2019 for breaching bail conditions in the UK. Thus, before his re-arrest, he had spent two years on bail – recognized by the WGAD as house arrest – followed by seven years in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden over sexual assault allegations, which the Working Group recognized as an extension of house arrest. Cumulatively, this means that Assange has been deprived of his freedom by the UK for almost 14 years since 7 December 2010.
The decision by Home Secretary Priti Patel on 17 June 2022 to authorize Assange’s extradition to the US, where he faces espionage charges, raises critical legal and ethical questions. This decision threatens global journalistic freedom and appears to challenge the ICCPR’s foundational principles, including the prohibition against extradition for political offences.
Despite urgent appeals from UN experts and key international human rights organizations, the UK has neither implemented the WGAD’s recommendations nor addressed these appeals, which include concerns from several Special Rapporteurs on torture regarding Assange’s deteriorating health and the potential for cruel treatment if extradited to the US – a clear violation of ICCPR Article 7. The potential extradition and Assange's detention conditions breach not only the principle of non-refoulement, as detailed in Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, but also several articles of the ICCPR.
The High Court’s decision on 26 March, allowing Assange to contest his extradition, is a positive development but falls short of addressing the fundamental issue: his prolonged arbitrary detention since 7 December 2010.
We strongly urge the UK to align its practices with the ICCPR, reaffirming its commitment to human rights standards, particularly regarding freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and the prohibition of torture and arbitrary detention. Our comprehensive Shadow Report details the troubling use of UK laws against journalists and activists.
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