Four guests and two witnesses: the wedding party of Wikileaks founder Assange and his partner Moris in prison could not be bigger. After all, a little bonding is granted to the couple. But a great shadow hangs over the celebration.
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and his fiancée Stella Moris want to say yes this Wednesday afternoon at London’s Belmarsh high-security prison.
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The couple met during years of asylum at Assange’s embassy in the Ecuadorian mission in London between 2012 and 2019 and they have two children.
According to supporters, only four guests and two witnesses are allowed at the civil ceremony (13:45 CET) behind the prison walls. Moris will wear a Vivienne Westwood wedding dress and Assange will wear a kilt from the fashion designer, which is intended to commemorate her family’s Scottish origins, according to a statement.
Guests and witnesses must leave the prison immediately after the ceremony, according to the information. Assange and Moris can only be together for a short time, the German Press Agency has learned from Wikileaks circles.
Moris plans to meet supporters outside the prison this afternoon and make a statement before cutting a cake. He encouraged people to come dressed for the occasion and bring flowers.
The long-planned nuptials of Assange and Moris 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 the Minister of the Interior, Priti Patel.
The disclosure platform’s editor-in-chief, Kristinn Hrafnsson, called on Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock to clearly side with Assange. “I am not completely satisfied,” Hrafnsson told the German Press Agency when asked if the Greens politician had done enough to support the Wikileaks founder.
As recently as last September, when questioned by a citizen on the “Ababdatenwatch.de” website, the Baerbocks team demanded Assange’s immediate release.
Hrafnsson asked to put pressure on Baerbock. “It shouldn’t go unnoticed if people don’t stand up for you just because you’re in a position of power,” he said.
The US judiciary wants to put Assange on trial on charges of espionage. The 50-year-old faces up to 175 years in prison if he is convicted. He is accused of having stolen and published secret material from US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan together with whistleblower Chelsea Manning, thus endangering the lives of US informants.
His supporters, on the other hand, see him as an investigative journalist who has exposed war crimes and must now be made an example of. Assange has been imprisoned in Belmarsh, a high-security prison in London, for the last three years. (dop)
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