Britain should "free" Julian Assange after a UN panel decision expected to find his confinement in the Ecuadorian embassy in London unlawful is published on Friday, one of his lawyers told AFP.

"If it respects its international commitments to the United Nations, it has to respect a decision of a working group based on the UN convention on political and civil rights. We hope it will endeavour to free Assange," said Christophe Marchand, who works for the Brussels-based law firm Jus Cogens