Whiffyleaks - staff want Assange to clean up act

BRITAIN: Julian Assange’s poor hygiene has played a role in the latest efforts by Ecuador to extricate him from his five-year standoff in its London embassy, a well-placed source has told The Times.

Staff at the embassy in Knightsbridge have made several complaints about the Wikileaks founder’s lack of cleanliness since he holed up in a back room there in 2012, the source says.

The claim comes after it emerged this week that Assange had been granted Ecuadorian citizenship but that an application by the country’s government to assign him diplomatic status was turned down by Britain.

‘‘It seems he doesn’t wash properly,’’ said the source, who has visited Assange at the embassy.

He added that the issue was a likely incentive in recent moves to bring an end to the legal and diplomatic row Assange created after failing in an attempt to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning on allegations of rape and sexual assault.

Those charges have now been dropped after prosecutors questioned him at the embassy, but he still faces arrest for skipping court bail and could be jailed for between two and 10 weeks should he leave the building.

Assange’s complaints about noise from a loading bay led to the ladies’ lavatory being converted into a bedroom, meaning that staff have been sharing the single remaining bathroom with him.

According to one friend and former colleague, this may cause a problem. Jeremie Zimmermann wrote in 2012 that ‘‘unless the people around him force him into the shower, he might not change his clothes for days’’.

Daniel Domscheit-Berg, once Assange’s closest acolyte, said: ‘‘Julian ate everything with his hands, and he always wiped his fingers on his pants.’’ – The Times