JULIAN ASSANGE would be free within days if the mass media ended its “deafening silence” over persecution of the Wikileaks founder, a UN expert claimed today.

UN special rapporteur on torture Nils Melzer accused major news outlets of failing to play their role as the “fourth estate” to inform the public about the implications of the case against Mr Assange on press freedom and the rule of law. 

The UN official said he had previously believed the press would “jump on” evidence pointing to “political persecution and gross judicial arbitrariness” in the case. But instead he has faced a “wall of silence.”