Four guests and two witnesses: the wedding party of Wikileaks founder Assange and his partner Moris shouldn’t be any bigger. A large shadow hangs over Wednesday afternoon’s celebration at London’s Belmarsh Prison.
Stella Moris, partner of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, stands with a group of supporters in a London court on January 24.
(dpa) Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and his fiancé Stella Moris want to say yes this Wednesday afternoon in London’s high-security prison Belmarsh. The couple met during Assange’s years of embassy asylum at the Ecuadorian mission in London between 2012 and 2019 and have two children.
According to supporters, only four guests and two witnesses are allowed at the civil ceremony (1:45 p.m. CET) behind the prison walls. Moris will wear a wedding dress by the designer Vivienne Westwood, Assange a kilt by the fashion designer, which is intended to remind of his family’s Scottish origins, according to a statement. The guests and witnesses must leave the prison immediately after the ceremony, according to the information. Assange and Moris are only allowed to be together for a short time, the German Press Agency learned from Wikileaks circles.
Moris plans to meet supporters outside the prison this afternoon and make a statement before cutting a cake. Well-wishers were encouraged to dress appropriately for the occasion and to bring flowers.
Assange and Moris’ long-planned nuptials have been overshadowed by the Supreme Court’s rejection of an appeal against the Australian-born Australian’s extradition to the United States. The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal as inadmissible last week. The decision now rests with Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The editor-in-chief of the disclosure platform, Kristinn Hrafnsson, called on German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to position herself clearly on Assange’s side. “I’m not completely satisfied,” said Hrafnsson of the German Press Agency when asked whether the Greens politician had campaigned sufficiently for the Wikileaks founder.
As recently as September last, when asked by a citizen on the website “Ababdatenwatch.de”, the Baerbocks team had demanded Assange’s immediate release. Hrafnsson called for putting pressure on Baerbock. “It shouldn’t go uncriticized if people don’t stand by you just because you’re in a position of power,” he said.
The American judiciary wants to put Assange on trial for allegations of espionage. The 50-year-old faces up to 175 years in prison if convicted. He is accused of having stolen and published secret material from American military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, thereby endangering the lives of American informants.
His supporters, on the other hand, see Assange as an investigative journalist who has brought war crimes to light and who is now to be made an example of. Assange has been incarcerated in Belmarsh, a high-security prison in London, for the past three years.