Julian Assange fathered two children while he was living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, it has been revealed.
Their mother, lawyer Stella Morris, had been helping the Wikileaks founder fight extradition to the US, where he faces espionage charges over the leaks of thousands of classified intelligence documents.
Assange has been jailed at the high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was dragged out of the embassy, where he had sought political asylum for seven years, last April.
He now awaits an extradition hearing on May 18.
His two sons Gabriel and Max were born in secret, but Miss Morris has now spoken out because she fears her partner’s life is at risk if he remains in Belmarsh during the coronavirus pandemic, the Mail on Sunday reports.
Saying there are genuine fears for his health, she has issued a plea for him to be released as the deadly bug spreads through the UK’s prison population.
The controversial Wikileaks boss is said to suffer from a chronic lung condition, and his friends say one prisoner at Belmarsh has already died from Covid-19, while a number of officers are off sick suspected of having the virus.
Miss Morris, 37, says he also suffers mental health issues which make him vulnerable to isolation.
In a statement to the courts supporting an application for bail, the Swedish lawyer revealed that she met Assange in 2011 when she was a legal researcher.
“Over time Julian and I developed a strong intellectual and emotional bond. He became my best friend and I become his,” she wrote.
The friendship developed, and despite the “extraordinary circumstances”, a close relationship began in 2015, she said.
The couple have been engaged since 2017, the year their first child Gabriel was born.
Their second, Max, was born in February 2019 and his birth was filmed with a GoPro so that his father could watch the footage.
Miss Morris added that she has gone to great lengths to shield the children from the climate that surrounds Assange.
“My close relationship with Julian has been the opposite of how he is viewed – of reserve, respect for each other and attempts to shield each other from some of the nightmares that have surrounded our lives together,” she said.
She said she was revealing their relationship now because their lives were “on the brink” and she feared her fiancee could die.
He is in isolation for up to 23 hours a day and all visits have stopped, she added.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Miss Morris says she is “terrified” that she will not see Assange alive again.
“I love Julian deeply and I am looking forward to marrying him,” she said.
“I have lived quietly and privately, raising Gabriel and Max on my own and longing for the day we could be together as a family.”
She added: “Julian’s poor physical health puts him at serious risk, like many other vulnerable people, and I don’t believe he will survive infection with coronavirus.”
Assange’s legal team had tried to secure an adjournment to his extradition hearing, saying the Covid-19 pandemic had created “insuperable” difficulties preparing his case, but this was rejected by a court.
If found guilty of the US charges, he could face 175 years in prison.
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