Assange willing to face arrest if UN panel upholds charges

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will leave the Ecuadorian embassy in London - where he took refuge in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden - on Friday and accept arrest if a UN panel investigating his case rules against him, he said in a statement posted on the Wikileaks Twitter account today.

Assange is wanted in Sweden for questioning over allegations of sexual assault and rape against two women in 2010. The Australian denies the accusations.

Last month, it was reported that Assange will be questioned by Swedish authorities at his Ecuadorean embassy hideout in London.

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa confirmed in January that a deal has been struck with Swedish prosecutors that will see Assange face questions without having to leave the diplomatic building over allegations he sexually assaulted the two women,.

President Correa said the Swedish authorities will submit questions to Ecuadorian officials, who will then quiz Assange about them, UK media reports said.

Assange sought political asylum at the embassy in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden as he feared being transported to the US to be quizzed over the activities of WikiLeaks that the government says caused considerable harm to the US foreign policy interests.

Assange, 44, is wanted for questioning in Sweden over sex assault allegations against two women, which he has always denied. Negotiations began in June last year between Ecuador's acting foreign minister Xavier Lasso and the Swedish justice ministry's international affairs chief Anna-Carin Svensson.

An Ecuadorian government statement had indicated a deal in December 2015: "The agreement, without any doubt, is a tool that strengthens bilateral relations and facilitates, for example, the execution of such legal actions as the questioning of Assange, isolated in the Ecuadorian embassy in London."