Julian Assange marries lawyer Stella Moris inside Belmarsh maximum security prison
Julian Assange and Stella Moris wed in a quick ceremony attended by just four guests.
The bride wore off white with a flowing veil decorated with handwritten words such as “faith”; the groom wore a Vivienne Westwood-designed purple and brown kilt matching those of his two sons.
And after the briefest of ceremonies, conducted during visiting hours inside the Belmarsh maximum security prison in London, WikiLeak founder Julian Assange, 50, married lawyer Stella Moris.
Ms Moris was emotional afterwards and while cutting a two tiered cake in front of several hundred supporters said: “The love we have for each other carries us through this station, he is the most amazing person in the world, he is wonderful and he should be free.”
The new bride is the mother of Assange’s two young boys, conceived during the Australian’s time inside the Ecuador Embassy and who has been tirelessly agitating for his release from a British jail since her identity became public two years ago.
Ms Moris first met Assange in 2011 when she was a 28-year-old lawyer specialising in international law and known as Sara Gonzalez Devant, the daughter of a Swedish-Cuban father and Spanish mother.
She said she legally changed her name a year later to protect herself while working with Assange, who by this time was fearful that the US was using two alleged sexual assault complaints by Swedish women (which never led to charges) as a means to get him extradited.
Ms Moris who can speak Swedish, was convinced his was a political case and fell in love with Assange’s intensity. She has previously told how Assange’s direct manner, his intelligence and curiosity was highly attractive to her.
On Wednesday in bright sunshine, Ms Moris emerged to several hundred supporters waiting outside the prison gates. Her mixed emotions were obvious: some shy smiles and then some tears.
Her young sons, Gabriel and Max waved. Photographs of the wedding inside the prison, or of Assange, who is a remand prisoner pending a decision about extradition to the United States, were banned by prison authorities because they deemed them a security risk.
One original witness, former UK ambassador Craig Murray was not allowed to participate because he was now categorised as a journalist, having blogged about the various court cases. Outside the prison police also removed a public address system so that the supporters couldn’t play any music.
The quick ceremony was attended by four guests including Assange’s father John Shipton and his brother Gabriel, two official witnesses and two guards.
Ms Moris’s floor length veil was inscribed with the messages she wanted the world to hear: faith, valiant, relentless and free enduring love.
“It is bitter sweet,’’ said one supporter as activists waved placards and chanted for Assange to be freed. She added “it is such a happy day with gorgeous weather and Julian has to go straight back to his cell, it is not right.’’
It comes as Assange’s legal fight to stop extradition to the United States moves to a new stage.
Assange faces 18 spying charges in the US for releasing troves of classified US government information in 2010 and 2011 relating to the Afghanistan War, Iraq War Guantanamo Bay detainee assessment briefs, and US Department of State cables.
Before the wedding Ms Moris said Assange “has spent nearly three years unjustly detained on behalf of the foreign power that plotted to kill him in the streets of London”.
She said the decision to ban a wedding picture was absurd and was part of a plan by authorities to try and keep Assange as invisible as possible and to make him disappear from public consciousness. She revealed that Assange had suffered a transient ischemic attack, also known as a mini stroke last October.
The British Home Secretary Priti Patel is to make a decision on Assange’s extradition soon. A week ago the British Supreme Court ruled that his legal complaint - that the United States had only offered to send him to Australia to serve out any sentence after it had lost a lower court ruling - had not raised a point of law.
If Ms Patel approves the extradition, Assange will make a fresh challenge contesting aspects of the original Westminster Magistrates court hearing, possibly delaying any extradition for months.
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