Assange fathered two children while holed up in embassy, lawyer says

[webfact]

Assange fathered two children while holed up in embassy, lawyer says

 

FILE PHOTO: WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain January 13, 2020. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

 

LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with a lawyer who was representing him while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London fighting extradition, the lawyer told a British newspaper on Sunday.

 

The Mail on Sunday said 37-year-old South African lawyer Stella Morris has been engaged to Assange since 2017. The couple have two sons, aged 1 and 2, both conceived while Assange was in the embassy and kept secret from media covering his case and intelligence agencies monitoring his activity, the paper said.

 

It showed pictures of Assange with a baby, identified as the older son, who it said had been smuggled into the embassy to meet him. Both of the children are British citizens, it said. Assange had watched the births on a video link.

 

The Australian-born Assange was dragged out of the embassy last year after a seven-year standoff, and is now jailed in Britain fighting extradition to the United States on computer hacking and espionage charges. His supporters say the U.S. case against him is political and he cannot receive a fair trial.

 

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange fathered two children with a lawyer who was representing him while he was holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London fighting extradition, the lawyer told a British newspaper on Sunday. Lisa Bernhard has more.

 

Morris said she had chosen to speak out now because she was worried about his susceptibility to the coronavirus in jail.

 

"I love Julian deeply and I am looking forward to marrying him," the paper quoted her as saying.

 

"Over the past five years I have discovered that love makes the most intolerable circumstances seem bearable but this is different – I am now terrified I will not see him alive again."

 

(Reporting by Peter Graff; Editing by Frances Kerry)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-04-13

Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[champers]

Dikileaks.

[Tug]

He’s a randy little nerd ain’t he!

[tifino]

The US would bleat he was secretly breeding more contempt

[colinneil]

Yes Assange was certainly holed up in the embassy.

[RJRS1301]

The lawyer/researcher obviously did not attend on the days ethics and boundary lectures were delivered.

[Kerryd]

No doubt this news was released on purpose at this time to try and draw sympathy for Assange.
"Oh the poor man has 2 kiddies - you can't throw him in prison just because he broke the law ! Release him and and deny his extradition because his 2 kids are UK citizens."

It's plainly obvious they could have released this news months/years ago (like say, after the first kid was born, or even right after the 2nd) but chose to keep it quiet until it could be used as a sympathy ploy.

Why else release that news now, in the midst of the covid crisis ? (Which they will probably try to leverage as well.)

[metisdead]

A troll post has been removed. 

[Chomper Higgot]

The mother obviously didn’t think about the future prospects of the father, though he himself almost certainly did.

 

Next legal plea, ‘Father of British born (anchor) children’.

 

[Boomer6969]

Good to see this great man could have some sort of a life while being unjustly forced into reclusion. We definitely need more like him.

[northsouthdevide]

Watch the birthrate rise all over the world after this covid 19 lockdown. 

Like in the days before telly ????

[tifino]

25 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

Good to see this great man could have some sort of a life while being unjustly forced into reclusion. We definitely need more like him.

shows that civilisation can still go forward - even under draconian social separation...

[Chomper Higgot]

37 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

Good to see this great man could have some sort of a life while being unjustly forced into reclusion. We definitely need more like him.

Nobody unjustly forced Assange into seclusion, he skipped bail like the sniveling little coward he is.

[Chomper Higgot]

13 minutes ago, tifino said:

shows that civilisation can still go forward - even under draconian social separation...

There’s nothing draconian about Assange choosing of his own free will to skip bail.

 

His isolation was self inflicted.

 

 

[JoePai]

1 hour ago, Chomper Higgot said:

The mother obviously didn’t think about the future prospects of the father, though he himself almost certainly did.

 

Next legal plea, ‘Father of British born (anchor) children’.

 

No, they were Ecuadorian born children

[JAG]

42 minutes ago, Boomer6969 said:

Good to see this great man could have some sort of a life while being unjustly forced into reclusion. We definitely need more like him.

Well it rather seems that you may, in due course, have a couple more.

[Moo 2]

Now that it left the EU, is the UK becoming another US State!

 

 

" Weak People Revenge,

  Strong People Forgive,

  Intelligent People Ignore"

[RJRS1301]

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

Oh the poor man has 2 kiddies - you can't throw him in prison just because he broke the law

In which court has he been treid and convicted yet, with the exception of breaching bail, and awaiting his extradition hearings

[VocalNeal]

1 hour ago, northsouthdevide said:

Watch the birthrate rise all over the world after this covid 19 lockdown. 

Like in the days before telly ????

Or when it rains in Indonesia?

[whaleboneman]

1 hour ago, northsouthdevide said:

Watch the birthrate rise all over the world after this covid 19 lockdown. 

Like in the days before telly ????

covid kids?

[whaleboneman]

41 minutes ago, JoePai said:

No, they were Ecuadorian born children

I doubt she gave birth in the embassy.

[Kerryd]

3 minutes ago, RJRS1301 said:

In which court has he been treid and convicted yet, with the exception of breaching bail, and awaiting his extradition hearings

What I was saying was, that they are probably hoping to use the kids to try and convince the court to not convict him. And they will also try to use the kids to prevent him from being extradited, regardless of the outcome of his trial for breaching bail.
That is why I think they held off on releasing this news for so long.

The man is not a hero. He is a convicted felon (in Australia, on hacking charges) who convinced a US soldier (Manning) to betray his country and helped that soldier crack a password allowing him access to top secret files.

Anywhere else, that is called espionage.
Had Assange been working for a foreign government, the soldier (Manning) would have been charged with treason.

And Assange was not doing it out of any sense of "doing the right thing". His organization (WikiLeaks) makes millions of dollars a year (in known donations) and who knows how much under the table. The last time I bothered to do any research on that (a few years ago now), they reportedly were making over $10 million a year just in donations.

And if you don't believe it, ask yourself how many other governments has he "done the right thing" to and released all their dirty little secrets ? He trades in secrets. Selling to some people, getting paid by others to not sell.
In fact, that was supposedly why the past President of Ecuador allowed him to stay for so long in their Embassy (either in exchange for "information" or in exchange for keeping some information secret). The current President apparently didn't feel the need to for such an arrangement which is why Assange was finally kicked out (in addition to him apparently being quite the dick while he was there).

[Kerryd]

49 minutes ago, JoePai said:

No, they were Ecuadorian born children

From the original post (third paragraph):
"Both of the children are British citizens, it said. "

[marko kok prong]

The lad put's himself about i'll say that .

[Salerno]

 

4 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

From the original post (third paragraph):
"Both of the children are British citizens, it said. "

According to whom? Which of the parents has British citizenship? as Far as I'm aware he's Australian, she's South African. 

[klauskunkel]

It's the embassy's fault. They did not supply condoms.

[Puchaiyank]

What a novel idea...order dinner and a tart to be delivered directly to one's home...

 

I see a potential worldwide franchise business...Gourmet Foods and live desserts delivered to your door...

[Kerryd]

2 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

According to whom? Which of the parents has British citizenship? as Far as I'm aware he's Australian, she's South African. 

Not sure how the UK works, but in many countries (like Canada for example) if a child is born in the country, it automatically qualifies for citizenship even if neither parent is a citizen.
In some places it is called "birth tourism" where a pregnant couple (or just her) travels to a select country as a tourist and then births a child in that country.

As the child is automatically a citizen, the parent(s) can apply for citizenship, usually without having to jump through all the normal hoops anyone else would have to.

[mike324]

23 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

According to whom? Which of the parents has British citizenship? as Far as I'm aware he's Australian, she's South African. 

Guessing the mom has PR or they call it "settled status", if so the kids can automatically get citizenship.

[Salerno]

19 minutes ago, Kerryd said:

Not sure how the UK works, but in many countries (like Canada for example) if a child is born in the country, it automatically qualifies for citizenship even if neither parent is a citizen.

As is the case in America but very few others as far as I'm aware.