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QUITO, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- "A year since the UN working group on arbitrary detention ruled (WikiLeaks founder Julian) Assange was a victim of arbitrary detention ... certain countries say they will not comply, that it is not binding," Ecuador's Foreign Affairs Minister Guillaume Long said in his twitter post Tuesday.
Though Long did not specifically name the countries, British and Swedish authorities have prevented Assange from taking advantage of political asylum offered by Ecuador, effectively trapping him inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the past five years.
Long also noted that developed and developing countries are held to a double standard. "If Ecuador had been accused (of noncompliance), the pressure brought to bear on us would be incredible," said Long.
Based on articles 9 and 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN group's ruling in last February ruled Assange detention as arbitrary and called for his release, as well as compensation for the time he spent under virtual house arrest. While the UN group's rulings are not binding, they are traditionally heeded.
Britain threatens to arrest the anti-secrecy activist if he sets foot outside the embassy, to comply with a European arrest warrant put out by Sweden, where Assange is wanted for questioning in relation to sexual assault allegations, which he denies.
Assange has agreed to being questioned, but does not want to travel to Sweden, believing Swedish officials will extradite him to the United States, where he could be tried for spying and other crimes.
Since its founding in 2006, WikiLeaks has released hundreds of thousands of compromising diplomatic cables and confidential military documents on the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, including revelations of war crimes.
