UN panel: Assange detained arbitrarily, should be freed

GENEVA – A U.N. human rights panel says WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been "arbitrarily detained" by Britain and Sweden since December 2010.

The U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said his detention should end and he should be entitled to compensation.

Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange over allegations of rape stemming from a working visit he made to the country in 2010 when WikiLeaks was attracting international attention for its secret-spilling ways.

Assange has consistently denied the allegations but declined to return to Sweden to meet with prosecutors and eventually sought refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he has lived since June 2012.