Stella Assange Keynote Speaker

Human Rights Lawyer and Activist
Advocate for freedom of speech and the right of the media to report on world events of interest to the public
Married to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, formerly imprisoned

Stella Assange's Biography

Stella Assange is a human rights lawyer who worked tirelessly to secure the freedom of Julian Assange. Stella and supporters not only campaigned for Julian’s release but their work serves to highlight the importance of free speech and the right of the media to report on world events and news that is of interest to the public. She joined Julian Assange’s legal team in 2011. In March 2022, she married Julian with whom she has two small children.

In 2023, Stella was awarded the Pimentel Fonseca Prize in Naples and received the Gold Medal for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse awarded by The Hist at Trinity College Dublin, on behalf of herself and Julian Assange. She has written for The Guardian, The Daily Mail, and has been profiled by The Sunday Times Magazine, to name but a few. Stella has also appeared on BBC Hardtalk.

During the latter stages of Assange’s political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy, Julian Assange, Stella, their infant child and WikiLeaks lawyers were targeted by illegal surveillance. The embassy has been described as ‘the most surveilled embassy in the world’ and a ‘type of prison’. From April 2019 – June 2024, Julian was kept under administrative detention in the UK’s harshest, most surveilled prison, Belmarsh prison, also known as Britain’s Guantanamo Bay. Julian has since been released.

Although not convicted of any crime, Julian was detained in one form or another since 2010. Assange was imprisoned at Belmarsh for nearly five years while the United States sought his extradition to face a 175 year prison sentence. He was kept in isolation for 22 hours a day and experienced conditions usually only for to the worst category of tried and convicted criminals. During his imprisonment at Belmarsh, his health declined.

Julian is accused of receiving and publishing documents from Chelsea Manning which documented war crimes, extrajudicial killings and civilian casualties during the US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. Manning was pardoned by President Obama and released in 2017. The Obama administration decided not to pursue charges against Assange due to “the New York Times problem”. The advice was that there was no distinction between the publishing activities of WikiLeaks and that of the New York Times. Charges were then revived under President Trump.

Stella was born in South Africa, but holds dual Swedish and Spanish citizenship.

She brings hard-won frontline credibility as a human rights lawyer who joined Julian Assange’s legal team in 2011 and helped sustain a global campaign that kept due process, press freedom and state accountability in the public eye.
She translates one of the most contested legal and political cases of the past decade into clear lessons on free speech, national security and the media’s right to report matters of public interest.
She offers a rare perspective on how governments, courts and public pressure interact in high-stakes international disputes, helping leaders understand the real-world mechanics of power and legal risk.
She is a recognised public voice on these issues, honoured with awards for public discourse and regularly engaging mainstream audiences through major outlets and broadcasts.
Her talks equip organisations and audiences to think more sharply about transparency, accountability and democratic resilience when information, security and rights collide.