Julian Assange' s partner files bail plea seeking release of Wikileaks co-founder

Stella Moris, Julian Assange' s partner with whom he fathered two children while living inside the Ecuadorian embassy in London, filed a bail plea in a UK court to seek the release of the Wikileaks co-founder amid growing health fears due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Stella Moris, who gave birth to Gabriel, 3, and Max, 1, after what she said was a strong intellectual and emotional bond developed with Assange, said there were now genuine fears for his health as he remains behind bars at Belmarsh prison in London fighting extradition to the US on espionage charges.

Moris, 37, a South Africa-born lawyer, issued a plea for Assange to be released from prison.

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"My close relationship with Julian has been the opposite of how he is viewed of the reserve, respect for each other and attempts to shield each other from some of the nightmares that have surrounded our lives together," notes Moris, according to a Sunday Telegraph' report.

In a statement to the courts supporting an application for bail, the newspaper says that Moris reveals that she met Assange in 2011 when she was a legal researcher and was asked to look into Swedish legal theory and practice.

"Over time Julian and I developed a strong intellectual and emotional bond. He became my best friend and I become him," she writes.

The friendship developed, and despite the "extraordinary circumstances", a close relationship began in 2015.

The lawyer said she was making the statement now because their lives were "on the brink" and she feared Assange could die as he is in isolation for 23 hours a day and all visits have stopped.