‘He could face death in the US’: an exclusive conversation with Stella Assange 

Julian Assange, arguably the world’s most famous publisher of classified documents and founder of Wikileaks, faces life imprisonment in the US if extradited. This has caused concern for journalists, as, if an Australian national publishing in Europe can face prison time in the US, press freedom globally is under threat. 

Stella Assange, international lawyer and wife of Julian Assange, sat down with The Boar to describe how they are fighting for their lives ahead of the final appeal against US extradition in London this week. 

I’ve always been interested in Julian’s case; not just because of his seven-year stint at the Ecuadorian embassy, but as an individual who has taken on the United States and fought for the right to publish as an internationally renowned journalist. 

During our private conversation before an address organised by Warwick Speak Easy, a student-led society, I was keen to ask questions that revealed more about her private life with Julian. As we walked to an empty seminar room in the Social Sciences Building where I had dumped my bag just minutes before, I warned that “I’d be asking questions she normally isn’t asked”; Stella smiled and said: “Let’s do it.” 

I first asked Stella about why she’s at Warwick, and why she chose to associate with Warwick Speak Easy. 

“This is such an important case, not just for press freedom but for the public’s right to know, and for them to hold power to account. The case is framed as narrow and administrative, but it misses the bigger dimension.”  

She paused, and I chimed in: “What is the bigger picture?” 

“It concerns the publication of evidence of war crimes, of corruption on a very large scale, and criminality on the part of public officials. In this case, none of the public officials have been held to account, and instead, the messenger has suffered as a result of publishing this information.” 

She spoke calmly but with a sense of urgency, as if she lived and breathed the intricacies of this case. The way that she contextualised Julian’s defence within broader issues of free speech inspired my questions about her appearance at Warwick Speak Easy. Warwick Speak Easy is a student-led society that aims to broaden their member’s perspectives by “engaging in a diverse range of viewpoints”. However, their actions have caused controversy on campus, having extended invitations to  speakers such as Nina Power, an ex-Warwick alumna who has previously been accused of transphobia.  

Regarding this, I mention the rise in speakers who have been deplatformed or protested off campuses across the UK, and suggest that her appearance as a speaker has potentially legitimated Speak Easy’s aims and objectives at Warwick. 

In response, Stella says: “I am aware of the controversies on most campuses around free speech, and I’ve been vocal in my defence of free speech, because Julian and his case is one part of the attack on free speech.”

She uses the example of “when Julian went to speak at the Cambridge Union in 2013, before the wave of cancellations. There was an attempt to cancel Julian, so the Union put it to a vote, and he won by 80% I think.”  

She concluded: “I think you’ll find that if they tried something similar at Warwick, that most of the students would want to hear even if they don’t agree with the controversial speakers. To impose this kind of control is counter-productive.” Stella asserts that it is better to invigorate debate than to effectively control it.

Sticking my neck out a little, I followed up on her response: “In the past, you’ve spoken on Russell Brand’s podcast about how Julian is a symbol of democratic accountability. We’ve recently seen a media frenzy over the release of the Jeffrey Epstein flight logs, which detail visits by officials and celebrities to his infamous island. What are your thoughts on this?”

“The press are too afraid to touch this, and if they do try, they might get burned. So the public needs to keep pushing on this, and I think obtaining documents via the court system has been good, and there will be more of that”

– Stella Assange

Stella suggested: “The Epstein case is obviously very fascinating, not least because of the way he met his end.” There was a notable pause in the room, and then she continued: “It seems pretty obvious what was going on there.

“It’s going to keep unfolding because you have the entire elite in the US and their associations with Epstein, and he also had his own intelligence associations.” 

She added: “The press are too afraid to touch this, and if they do try, they might get burned. So the public needs to keep pushing on this, and I think obtaining documents via the court system has been good, and there will be more of that.” 

Lawyers in UK courts have cited Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide as evidence to suggest it would be unsafe for Assange to be extradited to the US. According to a report by The Times, Assange faces “specially grave risks” where his mental health issues would be neglected as he faces up to 175 years in an American high-security prison.

Stella leans back and takes a pause to gather her thoughts, and I notice that there is a great certainty in her voice: “What is being done to Julian has consequences going forward, and it’s significant because it remains the biggest journalistic coup in history. The backlash has very severe consequences for press freedom globally.”

Desperate to find out more about Stella and Julian’s personal life, I re-directed the conversation to discuss their relationship and marriage, and Julian’s friendship with Dame Vivienne Westwood. 

Julian has been held at Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London since 2019 following his asylum’s withdrawal by the Ecuadorian government. Stella became close to Julian when she was hired as a part of Assange’s legal team to help fight his extradition to Sweden in 2011, but their relationship didn’t begin until 2014. In a Bonnie-and-Clyde-esque fashion, Julian and Stella secretly conceived two children whilst at the Ecuadorian embassy, but by the time Stella was pregnant with their second child, she had stopped going to visit Julian fearing that if they were discovered, it would be used as an excuse to expel him.  

In 2022, Stella and Julian had a private wedding at Belmarsh, where Stella wore a dress designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood, who was a close friend, and her husband, Andreas Kronthaler. An absolutely iconic dress, it included an elaborate veil with graffiti inscriptions such as “relentless” and “free love”.  

I began by admitting my obsession with her wedding, explaining: “I can’t imagine getting married in a prison, but in that dress, you were in all the headlines.” We shared a laugh, but I pushed on, because the reality is Julian and Stella got married in the UK’s most secure prison, housing some of the most dangerous criminals in the world. 

“Was it a harsh environment?” 

Stella reminisced on the big day: “There was a sense of excitement around the prison. There were flowers. All the press and supporters outside, they started having drinks early on. It had to be during visiting hours, so we were escorted to the room next to the chapel.” 

They only allowed family members and six people. Initially we wanted two witnesses, but they changed the rules as we went along. Our two witnesses were journalists, who were also friends of Julian’s, so it ended up being my mum and my brother, Julian’s father, and his brother and our two children. There were guards in the room obviously.” 

I couldn’t hide my astonishment: “That is crazy! How long was the ceremony?” 

“We tried to drag it out a bit, but it was about an hour. We couldn’t have anything on the walls because it was a civil service. We wanted to invite Vivienne to the wedding, but we weren’t allowed to.” 

Dame Westwood passed away in December 2022, but will be remembered as one of the fashion industry’s most impassioned activists and a prominent campaigner for Assange. I asked Stella about the unlikely pair’s friendship, to which she said: “They really liked each other, and they didn’t just see eye to eye on politics. She was extremely sharp, and she didn’t care about what anyone thought, even in the fashion industry. 

Stella’s way of expressing their interactions seemed so casual. Vivienne would “ride her bike to the embassy and visit Julian a lot”. 

“She had a clear idea of what she thought, and wanted to express it in her own way. Julian and her were very simila,r because he’s also very straight-talking, and doesn’t mind hurting sensibilities and being direct.”  

It is not just the number of supporters and famous allies Julian has that makes the WikiLeaks case so interesting. One of the most fascinating aspects of the case is the international man of mystery himself. Being a global traveller who rarely makes public appearances, Julian has been characterised as both a freedom fighter and a traitor. 

The two-day hearing taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week is the final chance for Julian to challenge the June 2022 decision by Priti Patel, then Home Secretary that approved his extradition order

But who really is the enigmatic persona attempting to create a world of information without borders? Stella suggests: “He’s a brilliant, fascinating and funny person. He’s a public figure and he talks about controversial things, so you might get the impression that he’s very serious, but in person he’s easy going, curious, and likes telling stories.” 

I ask: “How often do you visit Julian?”

“I see him once or twice a week, and on the weekends I take the kids. He was sick over Christmas, but he’s recovered because we have his biggest appeal coming up.” 

The two-day hearing taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday this week is the final chance for Julian to challenge the June 2022 decision by Priti Patel, then Home Secretary that approved his extradition order. 

My final questions for Stella concerned Day X: the potential end of Julian’s exhaustive extradition process, with the very real possibility for him to be sent to the United States in the next few days. 

It was clear that Stella was fatigued by the whole process. “It’s been a long extradition process”, she said with a sigh, explaining: “Initially Julian won, but the US appealed, and the High Court overturned the decision, and there’s a decision to extradite him. Now we are trying to get two different judges to reconsider earlier decisions.

“We will have exhausted the domestic remedies, and there will be no further appeals in the UK. Statistically this is the most likely outcome. My sense is that there is a 50% chance that it might go to a full hearing. It also could be the end of the road”

– Stella Assange

“We will have exhausted the domestic remedies, and there will be no further appeals in the UK. Statistically this is the most likely outcome. My sense is that there is a 50% chance that it might go to a full hearing. It also could be the end of the road.” 

In the last few minutes of our conversation, I commented on how the case could set a huge precedent for journalists and whistleblowers everywhere, and Stella agreed that it was a “very dangerous moment”. The deterrent effect that Julian Assange’s case will have on the future publications of classified documents, especially ones that chronicle war crimes and human rights abuses, is chilling and deeply disconcerting. 

As we walked back to the lecture hall in preparation for her speech, I thanked Stella and wished her luck. As someone who will be watching the appeal closely this week, being able to discuss the complexities of the case with the person closest to Julian brought it closer to home.