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Stella Assange

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In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Gonzalez and the second or maternal family name is Devant.

Stella Assange
Photo of Stella Assange.
Assange in 2023
Born
Sara Gonzalez Devant

(1983-11-20) 20 November 1983 (age 40)
Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
Other namesStella Moris, Stella Assange
Citizenship
EducationSOAS University of London (BA)
University of Oxford (MSc)
Complutense University of Madrid (LLM)
OccupationLawyer
Spouse
​
(m. 2022)​
Children2

Stella Assange (née Sara Gonzalez Devant; born 20 November 1983) is a Swedish-Spanish lawyer. Throughout her career, she has been an international advocate for human rights, most prominently in the case of her husband, Julian Assange.[1] She changed her name first to Stella Moris in 2012 and later to Stella Moris-Smith Robertson.

Early life and education

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Sara Gonzalez Devant was born in 1983 in Johannesburg, South Africa, to a Spanish mother and a Swedish father of Cuban heritage. Her mother is a theatre director and her father is an architect, town planner, and artist. Both of Assange's parents were known for participating in the Medu Art Ensemble, an anti-apartheid artist collective in Botswana.[2] Throughout her youth, Devant lived in Botswana, Lesotho, Sweden, and Spain. In 1985, during a raid into Gaborone conducted by the South African Defence Force, a family friend of the Devants, Thami Mnyele, was killed. This act of state-sponsored killing left a defining impression on the Devant family.[1]

After attending an international school in Lesotho, Assange proceeded to earn a degree in law and politics at SOAS University of London, a Master's of Science in refugee law at Oxford, and a Master's in public international law while studying at the Complutense University of Madrid.[2]

Career

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Devant has authored a number of articles for the independent publisher and magazine, New Internationalist.[3]

Work for Julian Assange

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In 2011, Stella Assange was hired by Julian Assange's legal team to help prevent his extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations. As a result of the team's success in delaying and ultimately preventing his extradition, the legal procedures were eventually dropped.[4]

For the sake of additional security while working with Julian Assange, she changed her name to Stella Moris in 2012.[2]

She has been on Julian Assange's legal team throughout his captivity, including during his asylum period in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London (2012–2019) and his incarceration in Belmarsh Prison (2019–2024). In reflecting on these legal battles, Stella Assange noted that her multilingualism in Swedish and Spanish was indispensable when liasing with the Swedish and Ecuadorian authorities.[5]

Stella Moris with supporters leaving the High Court in January 2022

On October 10, 2022, Stella Assange and thousands of others locked arms in a human chain around the Parliament of the United Kingdom to demand Julian Assange's freedom and the cessation of any extradition attempts.[6]

In 2023, Assange met the Pope and discussed her husband's situation.[7]

On June 24, 2024, Stella Assange released a statement saying that Julian Assange would be set free.[8]

Personal life and marriage

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In 2015, she began a relationship with Julian Assange.[2][9]

During Assange's seven-year period of political asylum in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, the couple conceived two children, the first being born in 2017, and the second in 2019. Tracy Somerset, Duchess of Beaufort and the rapper M.I.A. are the children's godmothers.[4]

On March 23, 2022, the couple were married in a ceremony that took place in Belmarsh Prison.[10] Assange is Catholic and had a priest of her Church, the chaplain for the prison, bless the marriage.[11][12]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Lang, Kirsty. "Julian Assange's fiancée, Stella Moris, on their secret family". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d "Stella Moris on her secret family with Julian Assange: 'He's unlike anyone I have ever met'". the Guardian. October 16, 2021. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  3. ^ "Author Details". New Internationalist. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
  4. ^ a b Montgomery, Allison Quinn, Blake (April 11, 2020). "Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Reportedly Fathered Two Kids While Holed Up in Embassy Fighting Extradition". The Daily Beast. Retrieved October 22, 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ "WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children in embassy, partner says". NBC News. April 12, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
  6. ^ "Protesters Form Human Chain Around U.K. Parliament to Demand Freedom for Julian Assange". Democracy Now!. Retrieved October 22, 2022.
  7. ^ "Pope Francis holds meeting with Julian Assange's wife". The Guardian. July 1, 2023.
  8. ^ Free Assange (June 24, 2024). SA KH statement 260624. Retrieved June 25, 2024 – via YouTube.
  9. ^ "Julian Assange: Wikileaks founder gets married in Belmarsh prison". BBC News. March 23, 2022. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  10. ^ Moris, Stella (March 23, 2022). "'Today I will marry the love of my life': Julian Assange's fiancée". the Guardian. Retrieved October 19, 2022.
  11. ^ McCarthy, Anthony (July 7, 2023). "Exclusive interview: Stella Assange on her husband, faith and meeting Pope Francis". Catholic Herald. Retrieved June 25, 2024.
  12. ^ "Stella Assange tells Francis of husband's 'cruel' imprisonment". The Tablet. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
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