It's been a year since Julian Assange was dragged from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he lived for nearly seven years. Before Assange's political asylum was revoked by the Ecuador embassy and the Metropolitan police officials put WikiLeaks founder in London's maximum-security Belmarsh Prison, new revelations identify Assange's partner and two kids he secretly fathered while living in the embassy.
Assange's partner Stella Moris has come forward in order to plea for the release of the father of her two young sons, fearing for his health in the coronavirus-ridden facility. Assange is serving a 50-week jail term for violating his bail conditions while awaiting US extradition hearing in May, where he will be questioned for his activities of WikiLeaks and face espionage.
Who is Stella Moris?
Amidst all this, Moris' identity gives a new spin to the ongoing crisis in Assange's life. Met in 2011, Moris recalls the time when she was a legal research team trying to halt the US extradition. As days, months and years passed, Assange and Moris grew close and started seeing each other in 2015. Two years later, the couple got engaged, the reports suggest.
Moris is a 37-year-old South African-born lawyer. The couple have two kids, 3-year-old Gabriel and 1-year-old Max. Moris said that she had gone great lengths to protect the couple's children from all the chaos in their lives.
"My close relationship with Julian has been the opposite of how he is viewed – of reserve, respect for each other and attempts to shield each other from some of the nightmares that have surrounded our lives together," Moris said.
Speaking about why Moris didn't reveal her relationship, WikiLeaks spokesman Joseph Farrell told CNN that "Ms. Moris did not take this decision lightly. She has protected her family's privacy fiercely for many years. She wanted to speak in support of Julian's bail application given the grave risk to his health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and the judge refused her anonymity, forcing her to go public. She is a serious, intelligent and principled person -- and a brilliant legal analyst."
Concerned for Assange's health during the coronavirus outbreak, which has breached the walls of the prison and claimed at least one life, Moris is seeking for Assange's release as his life is on the brink and he wouldn't survive the infection.
