Assange’s fiancée says extradition to US would kill him
JULIAN Assange would effectively receive a death sentence if extradited to the US, according to his fiancée.
The Wikileaks founder is wanted by the Americans for publishing secret documents and faces up to 175 years in jail if convicted.
He is in Belmarsh high-security prison in London after being expelled from Ecuador’s embassy, where he had hidden for seven years.
While there he fathered two children with his lawyer, Stella Moris, who said: ‘For Julian, extradition will be a death sentence. For the rest of our family it means something not far from it. My children will be fatherless and I will lose the man I love for ever.
‘Even now I don’t know whether my children will ever be held in their father’s arms again.’
The 37-year-old is said to fear that Assange could be driven to suicide by extradition.
She was speaking out ahead of a hearing in London today to determine whether he should be sent to the US.
Washington wants to put him on trial for exposing military documents, spy techniques and embassy cables. Assange claims his work was public interest journalism.
Ms Moris, born in South Africa with Spanish and Swedish nationality, has two sons by Assange: Gabriel, three, and Max, 19 months. She told the Sunday Times that Assange, who she describes as a 21st century Renaissance man and historical figure, proposed to her while she was pregnant with Max and he was still inside the embassy.
Ms Moris said: ‘He gave me a virtual reality headset and told me there was a surprise inside for me.
‘I found myself walking through this virtual world. There was a house and then a beach with balloons and stuff. And then Julian said “look up” – and there was this massive “Will you marry me?” written in the sky.’
She called for Britain to decline the Americans’ demand for extradition, adding: ‘I have the hope that the UK will uphold its own values.
‘And I think one interpretation of Brexit is that there is a desire for greater UK sovereignty and that means not bending to the will of another state.’
She said that Assange’s detention was tough for her children and coronavirus was making contact more difficult: ‘For Max, Daddy is a disembodied voice on the phone.’
Assange, 49, who is Australian, took refuge in the embassy to evade attempts to send him to Sweden on sexual assault charges that have now been dropped.
His backers are seeking donations of €560,000 to help meet the costs of his extradition battle.
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‘My children will be fatherless’