Britain's Foreign Secretary has cocked a snoot at a UN legal panel's conclusion that Julian Assange's three-and-a-half year refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London is a case of “arbitrary detention” and a “deprivation of liberty.”

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told a British TV channel that the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is “made up of lay people not lawyers,” adding that “its conclusions are flawed.”

In the light of their investigation and findings, the widely respected UN panel, considered the highest international legal authority on detention, called upon the governments of Britain and Sweden to “assess the situation of Mr. Assange, to ensure his safety and physical integrity, to facilitate the exercise of his right to freedom of movement in an expedient manner, and to ensure the full enjoyment of his rights guaranteed by the international norms on detention.”

The UK however said it would continue to arrest Assange regardless of the ruling.

Audio of Philip Hammond’s comments