Will ask UK authorities for access to visit Assange- UN rights expert

A UN rights expert said he would ask British authorities for access to visit Julian Assange in custody, after the WikiLeaks founder was arrested Thursday at Ecuador's London embassy. UN special rapporteur on the right to privacy Joe Cannataci said the arrest would not change his previously announced intention to meet with Assange later this month or to investigate his claims that his privacy had been violated.

The arrest merely means that "instead of visiting Mr. Assange and speaking to him at the Embassy of the Republic of Ecuador in London, I will visit him and speak to him in a police station or elsewhere in the UK where he may be held in custody," Cannataci said in a statement.

(With inputs from agencies.)