:Stella Assange
{{Short description|Swedish-Spanish lawyer (born 1983)}}
{{Family name hatnote|González|Devant|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Stella Assange
| image = TMZ 3796 (53334897957) (cropped).jpg
| caption = Assange in 2023
| alt = Photo of Stella Assange.
| other_names = Stella Moris, Stella Assange
| birth_name = Sara González Devant
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1983|11|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa
| spouse = {{marriage|Julian Assange|2022}}
| children = 2
| citizenship = {{nowrap|{{hlist|Spain|Sweden}}}}
| education = SOAS University of London (BA)
University of Oxford (MSc)
Complutense University of Madrid (LLM)
| occupation = Lawyer
}}
Stella Assange (née Sara González 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.{{Cite news |last=Lang |first=Kirsty |title=Julian Assange's fiancée, Stella Moris, on their secret family |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/stella-moris-julian-assange-fiancee-partner-wife-96g0mrxht |access-date=2022-10-22 |issn=0140-0460}} She changed her name first to Stella Moris in 2012 and later to Stella Moris-Smith Robertson.
Early life and education
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.{{Cite web |date=2021-10-16 |title=Stella Moris on her secret family with Julian Assange: 'He's unlike anyone I have ever met' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/oct/16/stella-moris-julian-assange-secret-family |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} 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.
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.
Career
Devant has authored a number of articles for the independent publisher and magazine, New Internationalist.{{Cite web |title=Author Details |url=https://newint.org/author/Sara%20Gonzalez%20Devant |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=New Internationalist |language=en}}
= Work for Julian Assange =
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.{{Cite news |last=Montgomery |first=Allison Quinn, Blake |date=2020-04-11 |title=Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange Reportedly Fathered Two Kids While Holed Up in Embassy Fighting Extradition |language=en |work=The Daily Beast |url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/julian-assange-lawyer-says-he-fathered-two-kids-with-her |access-date=2022-10-22}}
For the sake of additional security while working with Julian Assange, she changed her name to Stella Moris in 2012.
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.{{Cite web |title=WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children in embassy, partner says |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-fathered-two-children-embassy-partner-says-n1182151 |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=NBC News |date=April 12, 2020 |language=en}}
File:Stella Morris congratulated by a supporter as she leaves the High Court.jpg
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.{{Cite web |title=Protesters Form Human Chain Around U.K. Parliament to Demand Freedom for Julian Assange |url=https://www.democracynow.org/2022/10/10/headlines/protesters_form_human_chain_around_uk_parliament_to_demand_freedom_for_julian_assange |access-date=2022-10-22 |website=Democracy Now! |language=en}}
In 2023, Assange met the Pope and discussed her husband's situation.{{cite news|title=Pope Francis holds meeting with Julian Assange's wife|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/jun/30/pope-francis-meeting-julian-assange-wife-stella|work=The Guardian|date=1 July 2023}}
On June 24, 2024, Stella Assange released a statement saying that Julian Assange would be set free.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueZuru-Hzy0 |title=SA KH statement 260624 |date=2024-06-24 |last=Free Assange |access-date=2024-06-25 |via=YouTube}}
Personal life and marriage
In 2015, she began a relationship with Julian Assange.{{cite web |title=Julian Assange: Wikileaks founder gets married in Belmarsh prison |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-60852832 |website=BBC News |access-date=31 December 2022 |date=23 March 2022}}
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.
On March 23, 2022, the couple were married in a ceremony that took place in Belmarsh Prison.{{Cite web |last=Moris |first=Stella |date=2022-03-23 |title='Today I will marry the love of my life': Julian Assange's fiancée |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2022/mar/23/today-i-will-marry-the-love-of-my-life-julian-assanges-fiancee |access-date=2022-10-19 |website=the Guardian |language=en}} Assange is Catholic and had a priest of her Church, the chaplain for the prison, bless the marriage.{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Anthony |date=2023-07-07 |title=Exclusive interview: Stella Assange on her husband, faith and meeting Pope Francis |url=https://catholicherald.co.uk/exclusive-interview-stella-assange-on-her-husband-faith-and-meeting-pope-francis/ |access-date=2024-06-25 |website=Catholic Herald |language=en-GB}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Stella Assange tells Francis of husband's 'cruel' imprisonment |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/17323/stella-assange-tells-francis-of-husband-s-cruel-imprisonment |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=The Tablet |language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
{{Julian Assange}}
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Category:Alumni of the University of Oxford
Category:Swedish women lawyers
Category:Spanish women lawyers
Category:21st-century Swedish lawyers
Category:Swedish expatriates in South Africa
Category:21st-century Spanish lawyers
Category:Alumni of SOAS University of London
Category:Spanish expatriates in South Africa
Category:Complutense University of Madrid alumni