Sons and says she dreaded making the relationship public. He has been appearing at the old bailey fighting extradition to the United States for obtaining and publishing secret military documents a decade ago. Thank you very much for talking to us. I want to ask you first of all how you first metjulian assange and what you thought of him when you first met him nine years ago. I metjulian in paddington at the frontline club. I thought he was intriguing, a man with a mission. I mean, i first came across him when he released the collateral murder video, which is the video where two reuters journalists and nine other civilians are gunned down by a Us Helicopter gunship. So by the time i metjulian, i knew about what. Wikileaks did, but on the first day we spoke for i would say about two or three hours, about a wide range of topics. I never get bored with him, i can talk with him for hours about anything and. I find him very funny, i mean, we laugh a lot and. I spent almost every day in the embassy with him and i never got bored. So. You know, that is a strong connection but what was the point when you realised i am falling in love with him . Theres not one point. I knew i was falling in love with him and. You know, i thought a little bit because he is a very public person and im a very private person and he is. He has done some extraordinary things and made very powerful people very angry and so this is the situation we find ourselves in. Julian assange went into the Ecuadorian Embassy in london because he wanted to avoid being extradited to sweden to face questioning about allegations of Sexual Assault and rape. You know that case very well. What did you think of the allegations made by miss a and miss w about him . Before i metjulian, before i first interviewed, i read the Swedish Police file, which contained all the interviews. It was clear to me that that case was going nowhere. In fact, the initial prosecutor read it and she said that she believed their statements, but there was nothing criminal there. So why did one of the women say last year, one of the women who accused him of Sexual Assault said, i would be very surprised and sad ifjulian is handed over to the us. For me this was never about anything else than his misconduct against me. Too bad my case could never be investigated properly. It is too bad that the case was not investigated properly, as the un had found. She describes it as his misconduct. That woman is, you know. I am not going to make. Julian was never charged. The swedish prosecutor that initially looked into the case said there was nothing there. It was a political intervention. The Un Working Group on arbitrary detention found that there were very serious procedural violations in this case. The prosecutor said, the injured party submitted a credible and reliable version of events at the time when the case was dropped. Because the time had run out. Is that right . A credible and reliable version of events . Well, the initial prosecutor who dropped the case said she believed what the woman was saying, but there was no criminality there. As a lawyer, do you have any sympathy with the way the women feel they were treated . I have a sympathy with all involved, having been subjected to a case that has been extremely procedurally flawed and politicised from the very beginning. You became a couple in 2015. Julian assange, i think, had been living in effectively one room of the Ecuadorian Embassy for three years at that point. How does, if you dont mind me asking, how does dating work in that situation . You know, love finds a way. You guard your privacy fiercely. There were cameras everywhere. And microphones, hidden microphones. High resolution cameras. Did you know that at the time . No, we didnt know. Right. I mean, i knew that the cameras look very sophisticated, but i asked several times about them, about whether those cameras had microphones and consistently they said no. How can you be intimate when those cameras are there . We wrote things down to each other if they were so. So intimate that we didnt want to say them out loud, so the fact that when i got pregnant, which was a planned pregnancy, and i told him in writing because. Notjust in writing, i wrote it down, ifolded the paper, i slid it to him because that is the only kind of the last resort of people who, two people who are trying to have a human relationship in an extremely hostile, exposed and dangerous environment. When did you first write down, when did he first write down, i love you . That was in 2015, when we first got together because it was. You know. No one wants to start a relationship under those circumstances and i knew it was. It was dead serious for me, to. What have you got there . What is this . A plane child giggles nice it is a nice plane. It has got two wings oh, yeah . Yeah thats very nice, sweetie but yeah, you dont get into a serious relationship with julian assange, you dont do that lightly, well, i dont. Maybe others would, you know, i was very aware that this is, you know, that it was very serious and that if i started a relationship then this is, you know, for life, basically. Basically, we created a nice environment in his room. We had a tent, we had fairy lights in the tent and we would also change the furniture around often, every few weeks. I would go and get nice, as exotic as i could find, food and harrods was next door. It is very pricey, but they have some nice food there, so we would create date nights, i guess. In 2017, a new president was elected in ecuador. Shortly after that, Julian Assanges relationship with the ecuadorian authorities broke down. Now, various things were reported at the time and i just want to ask you which of these was true. They cut off his Internet Access . Yes. And the phone network, they installed signal jammers that block both phone and internet. He bullied Embassy Staff . That is not true. He was bullied. They changed all of them and then brought new people in, who bullied and harassed julian and me and others. He played music very loudly. He tried to block the microphones from picking up his meetings, so he did play music in order to try to interfere with. With the microphones. He didnt look after his cat properly. Well, the cat is very well looked after and i looked after him as well, and so did other people, so it isjust a, you know, one more of the lies to try to harm him. He rode a skateboard down the corridors. That skateboard is actually a present from the simpsons programme because he did the 500th episode and they sent him a skateboard. So that is true . It was a sunday afternoon in the middle of july, if i recall correctly, and i was there. I mean, the embassy was empty, it was a sunday. He smeared faeces up the walls of the embassy. That is absolutely false. How do you feel when you hear a report like that . I feel. Really shocked that they would sink that low, but it doesnt surprise me at all. And i think he asked you. He asked you to marry him by giving you a Virtual Reality helmet to put on . Yes. Can you describe that for us . So he had a vr headset that someone had given him in order to take him out of the isolation. So there were different games, there was an escape room game, but there were also some games where you could decorate spaces. And there were tools that you could use to draw in the sky or underground or whatever, pick up objects and so on. And. Mama 0k, hello, sweetie. I was in the house, so it was a house by the beach and so i walked around that house and there were different elements that he had put in there and flowers or something, and then he told me to look up because he could see on a screen what i could see and he told me to look up and there was this big, will you marry me . In the sky. And how did you feel at that moment . I was very. Well, i mean overjoyed, but i was, you know, it is such a julian. Ajulian way of proposing. How did you say yes, then . I didnt even have to say yes. You know, i took off the vr set and kissed him. You have two children. We can see them here. Gabriel, aged three, max, who is one. How difficult has it been for them to have a normal relationship with their father . Well, it is myjob, as their mother, to make julian ever present in their lives and i do that by, you know, they speak to him every day over the phone, they have been visiting the prison since, you know, for a year and a half now. What does gabriel, who is three, what does he know about why his dad is in jail . He doesnt know he is injail, he just knows that he is not home yet and, you know, mummy is working to get daddy back home. Your relationship was revealed in Court Documents in march this year. What was it like to finally go public . I mean, it is something i have dreaded for many years. It is not so much the exposure, i dont. For the media, of course i am worried about, you know, the kids. I am worried about myself, i am worried about how things can be twisted and that we wont be treated with dignity because i have witnessed how julian has not been treated with dignity. But at the same time i think i have no other choice. Than to speak out for them, for him and for my kids. And. The risk to us as a family is already there, so there is no real added risk to us. What is the risk to your family, in your view . The ultimate risk is julians extradition. Because it means. Ifjulian is extradited, i will never see him again. I know this for sure, the children will never have their father. And so, that is my, that is what i am fighting against. Julian will die, basically. He will die. And there is that horror. And there is also my responsibility to explain what is actually going on here because i think there is a. There is a huge wall of incomprehension about what this case is actually about, what they are trying to do to julian, what he actually did. He is being accused of. Routine journalistic activities, which they are casting as espionage. Julians been attacked by the head of the cia, by major senior members of the trump administration, personally, and the case is hugely prejudiced as a result. Theres no chance of him getting a fair trial. Why do you say he would die . Because they will convict him. He faces 175 years in prison. I mean, they say that is hyperbole. They say it would be more like 4 6 years sentence if he is convicted. Yes, and we just heard evidence that. From independent experts, saying it is much more likely that he will serve a life sentence, so 175 years or a life sentence. He is not going to live 175 years, obviously, but what they do want to do is bury him in the darkest, deepest, darkest hole of the us prison system. Can i come back to the case against him . Which you have described in your terms. Two of the accusations, one is dumping hundreds of thousands of unredacted cables on the internet, which put informants lives in danger. Also, he is accused of trying to help us soldier Chelsea Manning crack a password for a secret pentagon network. You have claimed he is a journalist, he claims he is a journalist. Most journalists dont help their sources pick physical or digital locks, or put informants names in the public domain, endangering their life, do they . Julian redacted the afghan war logs, the iraq war logs and the cables. In relation to publication, there are three charges that amount to 30 years. The remaining 150 years relate to. Obtaining, receiving and possessing classified information. And conspiracy with the source to intend to disseminate that information, so when you look at this, 150 years, even if he hadnt published, they are saying that they can put him prison for 150 years for receiving information from a whistle blower. A us army whistle blower who was blowing the whistle on war crimes. But why did the guardian, el pais, the new york times, le monde, all the others who had previously worked withjulian assange to release, carefully, cables that those newspapers and journalists are gone through line by line, journalists had gone through line by line, condemn him when he released hundreds of thousands more . Well, this is an issue of ongoing testimony in court, but. Well, they would say because he released unredacted cables. Well. Infact. The unredacted cables that were published on the internet appeared on cryptome two weeks before appeared on cryptome two days before wikilea ks published them and they appeared there because the guardian had published a book that contained a password. And they say that is absolute rubbish. It is a fact that wikileaks republished the cables only after they were on the internet on dozens and dozens of websites. Willjulian assange win his fight against extradition . I have to believe that he will. For our own familys future, but also for the future of a free, Democratic Society in the uk because this case is precedent setting, it goes to the very core of press freedom. It goes to whether a foreign power can pluck a journalist out of the uk and put him in prison for the rest of his life for publishing information that is in the public interest. The committee to protect journalists said, an ethiopian journalist was forced to flee the country after being named in these cables. Two Zimbabwean Army commanders faced court commanders faced Court Martial after being named in those cables. Reports that some chinese academics and human rights activists were attacked as rats and spies after their names were revealed in those leaks. In fact, the us, when it has to make statements under oath, says that it has found not a Single Person has come to physical harm as a result of wikilea ks publications. We just cant know that. We just cant do that, can we . They know who their sources are and they have conducted extensive investigations and they are highly, highly motivated to find a person who has come to harm. And they admit they dont have any evidence ten years on. The final decision about extradition will be made by a british court. Do you trust, do you have faith in the independence of the judicial system in this country . I believe that the uk courts have an interest in upholding the law. And upholding the public interest. And democratic values. 0n the other hand, one of the things that we found out through the Us Diplomatic cables is that the us exerts extraordinary pressure, including in germany and spain, political pressure on their counterparts to try to get the outcome that they want, so. On their political counterparts, perhaps, but not on british judges . But onjudicial, on investigations and on judges, in the case of spain, the killing of. But it is going to be made in this country, the decision will be made in a british court. And i have faith, of course, that. That the courts will take the right decision. Earlier this year, you said everyone has failed julian. We have all failed julian. What do you mean by that . I mean thatjulian. Is extremely vulnerable. In what way . What is his state of mind at the moment . He is clinically depressed. And he has been brutalised foryears, in many different ways. Now, physically, in the countrys highest security prison. He is imprisoned alongside terrorists and murderers and he is in there because he exposed torture. The contrast, just. Sorry. The injustice is overwhelming. And it is hard, year after year. And theres no redress, itjust gets worse gets worse and worse and that is why i think what he faces in the us, they want to take him into the deepest whole of the us prison system, where they have el trappo and you know, the worst terrorists in the country because they want to bury him alive so that he will never survive or see the light of day, and ijust. I dont think this is peoples values. I dont think they think people who expose war crimes should go to prison for the rest of their lives. How do you deal with the fact that. Yourfiance may lose his fight against extradition . He may be sent to america, he may be tried, he may be jailed . How do you cope with that . It is not a choice. You love who you love and i will stand by him, even as he is, you know. As he goes through all these things, i will be there all the way, as much as i can. How. When will you get married . Hopefully before christmas. While he is behind bars, potentially . I mean, im hoping that once he is free, we will maybe have a reception, maybe at my 0xford college or Something Like that. And you think he will be free before christmas . It is possible. Stella moris, thank you very much for talking to us. Thank you. Hello there, it has been called weekend for many, record low temperatures for september in Northern Ireland, but as we head into the early part of the week ahead we are going to find some higher temperatures across the whole of the uk, but it will be turning more unsettled as well. We will get atla ntic more unsettled as well. We will get Atlantic Winds heading our way, hence the rise in temperature, but there are some atlantic fronts already on the scene, but at least we will lose that called front, so much betterfor we will lose that called front, so much better for western england. Instead, we see cloud moving away from Northern Ireland into scotland and western parts of england and wales, some rain coming light and patchy and added some sunshine. It will be warm everywhere, 15 or 16 degrees in scotland and Northern Ireland, could be 18 or 19 across eastern parts of england in the sunshine, so a big change in the weather. Not a great deal of rain left on that band of cloud as it continues to push its way into eastern parts of england overnight. Clearer skies to follow, one or two showers pecking away at the western coast, but on the whole a bit drier and a bit cooler for western scotla nd and a bit cooler for western scotland and Northern Ireland, but still pretty mild, especially in the east of england. 0n still pretty mild, especially in the east of england. On that we can weather front, it does stop after that moving through and across the rest of the country we have got a bit of reaching in the pressure pattern, so dry mainly, one or two coastal showers to the west perhaps, but across east anglia and the rest of south england and lincolnshire more cloud for a while and perhaps drizzle. Temperatures making their way up to 18 degrees at best on tuesday. Into wednesday, another weather system coming in from the atlantic, so this is where all our weather is coming from, but this one has a bit more about it, much more active and the rain will be heavier. It will be a wet start across the western side of the uk, windy across the irish sea, gusts of 50 mph. Some of this rain will push its way eastern steadily through the day. More cloud, more rain around and stronger winds, but temperatures still near normal for the time of year. That is not going to last beyond wednesday because once that weather front takes the rain away and low pressure moves through, our air is going to be coming in from the north west. This is returning polar maritime air, colder air, so temperatures will be lower. Having said that, it looks drier across scotla nd said that, it looks drier across scotland and Northern England on thursday, the rain out into the north sea, showery burst of rain affecting southern england and Northern Ireland and wales, but a of that drier weather and sunshine in many areas, but temperatures back down to 12 or 1a degrees or Something Like that on thursday. Friday, that showery rain moves northward up towards the middle, Northern England, southern scotland and still in Northern Ireland, some wet and windy weather marking feet lurking across the english channel. These will end midweek, so again 1011 , these will end midweek, so again 10 11 , below normalforthe these will end midweek, so again 10 11 , below normalfor the time these will end midweek, so again 10 11 , below normal for the time of year. Later on in the week, as the jet stream position changes, high level winds diving to the south of the uk, we are on the colder side of the uk, we are on the colder side of the jet. You can the uk, we are on the colder side of thejet. You can see how undulating thejet. You can see how undulating the jet stream is there and with that sort of pattern you end up with this idea of a cut off low, a big area of low pressure that will dominate the weather during the weekend and perhaps beyond that as well. This is fairly typical autumn weather heading our way over the week ahead, but in the outlook with that area of low pressure it could be quite windy for a while, a lot of cloud around and some rain from time to time as well. That is it from me. Goodbye. This is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. Fighting breaks out between armenia and azerbaijan in the disputed region of nagorno karabakh, with casualties on both sides. The uk government defends its decision to allow students to return to university despite several outbreaks of coronavirus leaving many confined to their rooms. The murdered London PoliceSergeant Matt ratana is remembered at the rugby club where he was head coach as the suspect is named as 23 year old louis de zoysa. Democratic president ial candidate joe biden accuses President Trump of using the Supreme Court to try to eliminate 0bamacare. And coming up why one tennis player refused to stay on court over what she called the ridiculous conditions during her