Julian Assange and his partner, Stella Moris, got married on Wednesday at Belmarsh high-security prison in south-east London.
The WikiLeaks founder, 50, was granted permission last year to marry Moris – with whom he has two children – at the prison where he has been held since 2019 after the US took legal action to extradite him to face trial on espionage charges.
Moris arrived at the jail wearing a floor-length corseted lilac dress designed by Dame Vivienne Westwood and Andreas Kronthaler, and an elaborate veil embroidered with messages from friends.
After the wedding, Moris made an emotional speech to a crowd outside prison. Fighting back tears and wearing her wedding dress, she said: “I’m very happy but I’m very sad … I wish he were here … What we’re going through is inhuman.”
She added: “He’s the most amazing person in the world and he should be free. But our love will carry us through.”
Supporters said the couple were allowed six guests, including Assange’s two brothers and his father.
In an article for the Guardian, Moris described the wedding venue as “the most oppressive high-security prison in the country”.
Moris said she and Assange had been locked in a dispute with the Ministry of Justice and prison authorities, who she said rejected their proposed witnesses because they were journalists. A proposed photographer was also denied access because he worked for the press, even though they would all have attended in a private capacity, she added.
“The prison states that our wedding picture is a security risk because it could end up on social media or the press,” she wrote. “How absurd. What kind of security threat could a wedding picture pose?”
Belmarsh regularly permits photography, according to Moris, who added that the far-right activist Tommy Robinson and other prisoners had been interviewed on camera when ITV filmed inside the prison. Moris added: “But for Julian, who isn’t even serving a sentence, there appears to be a different set of rules …They fear people will see Julian as a human being.
A Prison Service spokesperson said: “All weddings in prisons must meet the requirements outlined in the Prison Service policy.”
They said photography for weddings in prisons was facilitated by prison staff in line with established national policy on photographing prisoners, and that policy made clear the governor could block images if it was believed they would be shared publicly – which could compromise prison security. As a result, photographs were taken by staff, they said.
Earlier this month, Assange moved a step closer to a US trial on espionage charges after the UK’s highest court refused to hear his appeal against extradition. He was attempting to appeal against a judgment by the high court in December that ruled he could be extradited after assurances from the US authorities with regard to his prison conditions there.
The supreme court said it had refused permission to appeal “as the application didn’t raise an arguable point of law”. The case is expected to be formally sent to the home secretary, Priti Patel, to approve the extradition.
