“The development sets up a possible future tug-of-war between Sweden and the United States over any extradition of Assange from Britain,” the AP reports.

“A British court sentenced Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder, to 50 weeks in jail on Wednesday for jumping bail when he took refuge in Ecuador’s Embassy in London seven years ago,” the New York Times reports.

“His complex legal travails are far from over: The United States is seeking Mr. Assange’s extradition for prosecution there, and officials in Sweden have left open the possibility that he could face criminal charges in that country, as well.”

BBC: “More details emerged later, when Foreign Minister José Valencia told Congress that Assange had been using a mobile phone not registered with the embassy, repeatedly insulted the mission’s workers – reportedly calling them US spies – and damaged the facilities by riding his skateboard and playing football, despite being told not to do so.”

“Cleaning staff, Mr Valencia said, had described ‘improper hygienic conduct’ throughout Assange’s stay, an issue that a lawyer had attributed to ‘stomach problems’. One unnamed senior Ecuadorean official told AP news agency that other issues included ‘weeks without a shower’ and a ‘dental problem born of poor hygiene.'”

“Interior Minister María Paula Romo then complained that Assange had been allowed to do things like ‘put faeces on the walls of the embassy and other behaviours of that nature.'”

Daily Beast: “His dramatic expulsion from the embassy follows a year of ratcheting tension between Assange and his Ecuadorian hosts, culminating in Wikileaks publicizing a leak of hundreds of thousands of hacked emails mysteriously stolen from the inboxes of Ecuador’s president and first lady.

“It was this last move that finally set Ecuador’s government firmly against Assange, who was by then already being treated less like a political refugee than an inmate—albeit one who was free to leave at any time.”

Australian diplomats have reportedly visited Julian Assange in Ecuador’s embassy in London to hear firsthand about his health, the Sydney Morning Herald Reports.

Assange’s attorney “said he and his colleagues will now directly appeal to Foreign Minister Marise Payne to petition the UK government to let Assange leave the embassy for urgent medical care without being arrested.”

“Documents reviewed and authenticated by ABC News in Quito show that the Ecuadorian government gave Assange diplomatic credentials and diplomatic immunity in order to allow him to leave their London embassy without fear of arrest by British police and take up a post in Russia.”

ABC News: “As his residency at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London enters its seventh year, the self-styled cyber revolutionary – WikiLeaks’ founder and controversial publisher of some of the world’s most closely guarded official secrets – is facing a pair of converging crises that have left his allies fearing for his wellbeing and his safety.”

“Inside the embassy, he is living an increasingly secluded existence, having been stripped of his phones, computers and visitor privileges after running afoul of the very government that gave him asylum. Outside the embassy, he is embroiled in the global political scandal surrounding Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 election, with questions about his role in that drama being raised by friends and foes alike.”

“In more ways than one, the very walls protecting Assange also appear to be closing in.”