The founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, has been given permission to marry his fiancee despite being in Her Majesty’s Prison Belmarsh, a Category-A men’s prison in southeast London. His partner, Stella Moris, has two sons with the Australian publisher and fugitive activist.
Julian Assange was arrested in April of 2019 at the Ecuadorian embassy in London after failing to surrender to court. His capture means the possibility of facing up to five years in a United States prison for federal conspiracy charges after teaming up with former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning who was arrested in 2010 for disclosing more than 700,000 confidential documents to WikiLeaks.
Despite the arrest, Assange has been given permission to marry his partner, the mother of their two sons, Gabriel and Max. Moris spoke of her joy at being able to finally marry Assange, despite restrictions which have been placed around their wedding, including the guest list.
“Obviously we are very excited, even though the circumstances are very restrictive,” said Moris. “All the guests and witnesses must leave as soon as the ceremony is over, even though that will be before normal visiting time ends.”
Will Assange and his bride be expecting friends, family and loved ones? Not exactly. Only four guests are allowed to attend their wedding, in addition, two security guards will be present.
"Julian is looking forward to the wedding because it is finally happening, many months after we first made the request,” adds Moris, who had to change her name in 2012 for safety reasons, a year after meeting Assange.
Moris met Assange in 2011 when she was 28, and Assange was 40 at the time. Moris was working as a lawyer when she fell in love with the man she believed was responsible for exposing war crimes.
“If Collateral Murder hadn’t been published, those innocent people who were mown down in a war crime would have for ever remained in terms of the official story ‘enemy combatants’ engaged in a war battle and legitimately killed,” Moris said last year. “And that was only one of the stories.”
Assange’s supporters plan to hold a gathering outside the prison on Wednesday during the couple’s ceremony. Assange and Moris, who are being dressed by Dame Vivienne Westwood, have asked their supporters to dress as if they were attending any other “normal” wedding.
The couple has asked supporters to donate funds to a Crowdfunder campaign to free the groom from captivity, as opposed to being given wedding gifts.
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