‘We’re being punished as a family’: Julian Assange’s fiancee calls for government help

Stella Moris on 60 Minutes on Sunday night. Photo: 60 Minutes/Twitter
Wikileaks founder Julian Assange’s fiancee, the mother of two of his children, has pleaded for the Australian government to help return him to his family.
Stella Moris also raised concerns about the health of her partner, who is being held in the UK’s Belmarsh prison.
Assange, 48, is fighting extradition to the US to face 17 charges of violating the US Espionage Act and one of conspiring to commit computer intrusion.
“I want people to understand we’re being punished as a family,” Ms Moris told 60 Minutes which aired on Sunday night.
“I’d like to ask Scott Morrison to do everything he can to get Julian back to his family.”
Julian Assange's secret fiancée Stella Moris believes security staff at the embassy concocted a reprehensible plan to target her eldest child Gabriel and steal his DNA by collecting his nappy and dummy. #60Mins https://t.co/kmKocPIGM2
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) June 21, 2020
Assange didn’t appear via video link for his most recent court matter in London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court in early June.
His defence team had emailed court that their client had “had respiratory problems for some time”, the court heard.
WikiLeaks confirmed Assange had been advised against going to the video conferencing room in Belmarsh prison by his doctors and was at high risk of contracting COVID-19 due to an underlying lung condition.
“I'd like to ask Scott Morrison to do everything he can to get Julian back to his family.” Even with Julian Assange behind bars, Stella is determined her boys will know and love their father. #60Mins pic.twitter.com/2vofpqFB2V
— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) June 21, 2020
Assange is next scheduled to appear in court on June 29 for a routine call over.
“He’s very unwell and I’m very concerned about his ability to survive this,” Ms Moris said.
“He’s not a criminal. He’s not a dangerous person. He’s a gentle intellectual, a thinker.”
Ms Moris, 37, said Assange was being kept alone in a tiny room and was “very depressed”.
The Australian fathered two children with Ms Moris during his time in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Assange is accused of publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic and military files, some of which revealed alleged war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The charges carry a total of 175 years’ imprisonment.
-AAP