Cameron urges Assange to leave Ecuadoran embassy
British Prime Minister David Cameron says the WikeLeaks Founder Julian Assange should leave the Ecuadoran embassy in London and bring to an end the "whole sorry saga."
"I think this was a ridiculous decision. You've got a man here with an outstanding allegation of rape against him. He barricaded himself into the Ecuadoran embassy and yet claims he was arbitrarily detained. The only person who detained himself was himself. And so what he should do is come out of that embassy and face the arrest warrant that is against him," Cameron told the British lawmakers.
He stressed that the allegation against Assange was in Sweden, "a country with a fair reputation for justice.”
WikiLeaks founder faces a rape allegation in Sweden but has been inside Quito's mission for more than three and a half years in a bid to avoid extradition.
A Swedish prosecutor said on Tuesday that she still aims to question Assange at the embassy over the rape allegation. In a statement, Marianne Ny said she has decided to go ahead with the questioning despite a UN report condemning Stockholm for his "arbitrary detention."
"Concerning the report that was issued last week, I would like to state that it does not change my earlier assessments in the investigation," she added.
Assange sought refuge in the Ecuador’s embassy in June 2012 after Swedish authorities issued a European warrant for his arrest over a 2005 rape allegation.
Assange has refused to travel to Stockholm for questioning amid fears Sweden will extradite him to the US over WikiLeaks' release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled last week that Assange's confinement to the embassy in London amounted to an arbitrary detention by Sweden and Britain. Stockholm and London rejected the findings.
"Mr Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point and Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay at the embassy," the Swedish Foreign Ministry said.
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