Jan. 1 (UPI) — Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, will request leave from Britain’s Belmarsh Prison to attend the funeral of Vivienne Westwood.
Westwood, the designer credited for popularizing punk and new wave fashion, was a supporter and friend of Assange who protested his imprisonment before her death in London on Thursday.
Assange has been detained in the London prison since April 2019 as he fights extradition to the United States on charges of espionage for publishing classified documents leaked by Chelsea Manning.
His request for prison release was revealed by his wife, Stella Assange, according to the BBC and The Independent.
Westwood’s death prompted Julian Assange to make his first public remarks since being imprisoned, which were released by his wife.
“Vivienne was a Dame and a pillar of the anti-establishment. Bold, creative, thoughtful and a good friend. The best of Britain. She will be missed terribly by me and many others,” Assange said.
In her own comments, Stella Assange said that she and her husband “loved her company” and called the fashion designer a “fierce campaigner and true altruist.”
A spokesperson for Britain’s Justice Ministry told the BBC that Assange’s request was unlikely to be granted because such leaves are only meant for close relatives though added it was up to the prison governors to decide issue.
Westwood became a close friend of Assange after the infamous publication of documents provided to Wikileaks including a video that shows U.S. soldiers fatally shooting 18 civilians from a helicopter in Iraq.
She regularly visited Assange during his extended stay at Ecuador’s Embassy in London and suspended herself in a bird cage outside the Old Baily in July 2020 to protest against his extradition.
Details about Westwood’s funeral have not yet been made public.
