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‘Blatantly unfair and profoundly wrong’ — Stella Moris on why fiancé Julian Assange’s extradition ruling is not the end

 (Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd)
(Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd)

When Stella Moris picks up the phone, I expect to hear the voice of a woman deflated. It’s been four days since the news the South African lawyer-turned-freedom-of-information campaigner had been dreading was confirmed: her fiancée and the father of her two sons - the incarcerated WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange - has had his extradition appeal rejected, meaning he can be extradited to the US on espionage charges over the mass leak of classified and confidential military documents.

Assange, 50, is currently locked up inside HMP Belmarsh, the maximum security prison in south-east London. He’s been there since 2019, despite Moris’ claims that he’s suicidal and suffered a stress-induced stroke there back in October.

On Friday 10 December the decision came through that Assange could be extradited, despite a district judge ruling against this happening earlier this year on the grounds that he would face an “oppressive” risk of suicide if held in a US high-security prison.

US authorities have since offered assurances that Assange would not face the strictest measures, in order to reduce the risk of suicide, but Moris, 38, says her fears for her fiancé's safety are far from over, calling the decision “dangerous and misguided” - and that’s before considering, she says, the “grave threat to press freedom” more broadly.

When we last spoke, a month ago, Moris was visibly anxious about her husband’s state in Belmarsh Prison, nervously scratching her hands around the diamond engagement ring she bought for herself on Assange’s behalf while he was in the Ecuadorian embassy in 2016. She has become known for her reserved interview style and long-drawn out pauses between words, but today she is in self-described “overdrive”, speaking faster and more decisively.

Stella Moris reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court at an earlier hearing (PA) (PA Wire)
Stella Moris reacts after talking to the media outside the High Court at an earlier hearing (PA) (PA Wire)

She tells me it’s fuelled by anger. The fact that the High Court came to this decision is “incomprehensible” and the support she’s had from figures including Australian deputy PM Barnaby Joyce this week has only bolstered her determination to re-appeal. “Whether you like him or despise him, it is beyond him, given his circumstances, to protect his rights by himself,” Joyce wrote in a newspaper column following last week’s decision, calling on the UK not to extradite him. “We will judge its society accordingly,” he added.

Joyce had never spoken on the Assange case before - the fact that he and others have chosen now to speak out indicates just how “blatantly unfair” and “profoundly wrong” this case has become, says Moris. Hopefully, it’ll also help her bid to overturn the decision, the application for which she’s working on with Assange’s lawyers already.

Stella Moris following a visit to her partner Julian Assange in Belmarsh Prison (Ian West/PA) (PA Wire)
Stella Moris following a visit to her partner Julian Assange in Belmarsh Prison (Ian West/PA) (PA Wire)

“People’s willingness to speak out is essential for the US to not get away with this,” she says. “The fact that centrist people in the US have decided now is the time to speak out is significant - the situation is so nakedly unfair that the majority of the population can see that what has happened here is extremely irregular and profoundly wrong. The support for him and the willingness to speak out is growing, which is essential.”

For Moris, the fact that the decision came through on International Human Rights Day is significant, but there is more to last week’s extradition ruling than the press freedom implications. In a second bombshell in the last few days, she revealed that her husband-to-be suffered a stroke on the first day of the High Court appeal hearing in October. “Julian is struggling and I fear this mini-stroke could be the precursor to a more major attack,” she told the Mail on Sunday last weekend. “It compounds our fears about his ability to survive, the longer this long legal battle goes on.

Julian Assange faces extradition to the US (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire)
Julian Assange faces extradition to the US (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire)

“It urgently needs to be resolved. Look at animals trapped in cages in a zoo. It cuts their life short. That’s what’s happening to Julian. The never-ending court cases are extremely stressful mentally.”

How is Assange doing now? He’s largely recovered, says Moris - physically, anyway. The stroke left him unable to close his right eyelid and a blurred memory at the time and while those symptoms have now gone away, the risks of another have only heightened. “He could have a catastrophic medical emergency at any moment,” she says, matter-of-factly. “Doctors who’ve been assessing him for years have been warning of this: that his health is in decline and that he may suffer a rapid downwards spiral at any point. Obviously we’re extremely concerned now - he’s on anti-stroke medication but if he has another one it could be more serious or have a more permanent effect or be very serious.”

Stella Moris, the partner of Julian Assange (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)
Stella Moris, the partner of Julian Assange (James Manning/PA) (PA Wire)

Moris blames the authorities for her fiancé's physical state entirely. She feels angry that the stroke happened because “he shouldn’t be [in jail]”, but hopes revealing the details might boost public sympathy. “It might help people understand the reality of the effects that this prolonged incarceration is having on his health,” she says. “It’s absolutely outrageous because he is not serving a sentence, he’s the victim of a political persecution.”

Meanwhile, Moris’ plans to marry Assange are still under way. After years of campaigning, the couple were finally given permission to wed in a small Catholic ceremony inside Belmarsh last month, and Moris is hopeful that a (Covid-safe) wedding might now take place in the next few months. It won’t be before early 2022, and she’s still liaising with the prison about guest numbers, but she’s hoping they’ll at least be able to have both families there.

Stella Moris stands with her children Gabriel and Max as she speaks to the media outside Belmarsh Prison in 2021 (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire)
Stella Moris stands with her children Gabriel and Max as she speaks to the media outside Belmarsh Prison in 2021 (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire)

In the meantime, Moris and her sons, Gabriel, four, and Max, two, are squeezing in as many visits to see Assange in Belmarsh as they can - though the rise of the Omicron variant will make that harder. They won’t be able to visit him for ten days or so over Christmas, so are likely to spend the day with Moris’ parents instead, but they’re meeting him today and visited on Saturday, the day after the extradition decision.

I ask how Assange felt after the decision, to which Moris says he found it “difficult to stomach, obviously” - but they didn’t discuss it in-person because it was a family visit, which they always try to make a joyful occasion. “When I go with the kids, it’s always really hectic, but fun,” she explains. “I spend most of my time trying to stop the kids running in different directions and negotiating snacks with them. There’s a little hatch where you can buy snacks - that’s the most chocolate they get in the week, when we visit Julian. When we’re there with the kids we can talk about something else, which is a release” (Max, the youngest, has only known his father inside Belmarsh).

Stella Moris is seen outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Friday (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Wire)
Stella Moris is seen outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Friday (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Wire)

Moris says the boys are doing a good job keeping her busy during a stressful time, but she’s got plenty to be getting on with alongside parenting: giving interviews, wedding planning, meeting Assange’s legal team. His application to appeal to the Supreme Court must be in by December 23 so it’s been a quick turnaround since last week’s decision. How does she think it will go? Moris doesn’t know. “But we think there are good grounds for them to review the decision - they have to agree to hear it,” she says, reiterating the bombshell that came out in September, that the CIA, under Mike Pompeo, had discussed plans to assassinate, kidnap and rendition Assange from the embassy.

Moris sighs. She is “angry” and “incensed” by the latest ruling, but she is used to “this constant chess game” by now. Given the conveyor-belt of bombshells in the Assange saga so far, this latest one - “another layer of profound injustice on top of many others” - is unlikely to be the last.

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