A Judge is Forcing Julian Assange to Obey the Embassy’s Housekeeping Rules

In case you missed it, Julian Assange has officially become a 47-year-old child. The WikiLeaks founder recently took the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to court after they told him he had to clean his room and look after his cat if he wanted to use the internet. Insofar as the Embassy has provided Assange refuge for the past eight years, the legal action signified a staggering case of a person biting the hand that feeds them: the equivalent of a petty teenager suing his parents because they won’t let him play on Reddit.

A court has now rejected Assange’s attempts to have the house rules loosened, with Judge Karina Martinez pointing out that authorities reserve the right to decide what’s allowed inside their embassies, the ABC reported.

Carlos Poveda, Assange’s lawyer, has vowed to appeal the ruling, claiming that “The Ecuadorian state has an international responsibility to protect Mr Assange”. Assange himself claims the crackdown on housekeeping is an attempt by the embassy to force him into leaving, while Ecuador's government argues that the rules are there to allow all residents of the small embassy to live together peacefully.

It was revealed that Assange takes up more than a third of the space at the embassy, and officials have complained that his skateboarding and soccer playing have also caused damage inside the building. As per the new rules, officials have insisted that he start cleaning his bathroom, taking better care of his “Embassy Cat”, and paying for his own food, laundry, phone calls, and internet.

Should he decide to leave, Assange would expose himself to the risk of being arrested by British authorities and handed over to the United States, where he would then face prosecution over his publication of classified military documents. UK Foreign Office minister Hugo Swire has previously criticised Ecuador for continuing to host Assange, while Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno has explicitly admitted that Assange cannot stay in the embassy forever. In summation: the notorious troublemaker is not in a position to be rattling any more cages.

Ecuadorian officials have praised Judge Martinez’s ruling. "It's clear this protocol was issued with strict respect for international law," said Jose Valencia, Ecuador's foreign minister, according to The Guardian.