Julian Assange to wed in prison in Britain

Julian Assange, the WikiLeaks founder who is fighting extradition to the United States on espionage charges, has been granted permission to marry in London in the prison where he has been held since 2019.

The news that Assange would be allowed to wed his fiancee, Stella Moris, in Belmarsh Prison was announced by Moris on Thursday, only days after she said she had taken legal action against the British government for ignoring the couple’s repeated requests to marry.

“I am relieved but still angry that legal action was necessary to put a stop to the illegal interference with our basic right to marry,” Moris wrote on Twitter.

A prison spokesperson confirmed in a statement that Assange had been given permission to marry and that his application was received by the prison governor in “the usual way” and was processed “as for any other prisoner.”

Under the Marriage Act 1983, prisoners in England are entitled to apply to be married while in custody. If the application is granted, the prisoner’s family is responsible for paying for the service.

Assange and Moris are no strangers to seizing life in confined spaces.

In 2012, Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorean Embassy in London as he was fighting extradition to Sweden, where he was wanted for questioning in a rape inquiry, which was later dropped. Moris was hired as part of the legal team fighting those extradition efforts, and during the seven years he was holed up in the embassy, she and Assange developed a relationship and had two children.