The U.S. government has won the latest round in its bid to extradite Wikileaks founder Julian Assange from the U.K.
In January, a London court turned down a request for Assange to be extradited to the U.S. to face espionage charges, over mental health concerns. Assange’s clinical depression could be compounded and he might commit suicide if extradited stateside, District Judge Vanessa Baraitser had ruled then.
The U.S. government appealed the decision.
On Friday, a U.K. High Court overturned the previous ruling after U.S. officials gave the court assurances that Assange wouldn’t face the strictest prison conditions, including solitary confinement, unless he performed an act that merited them.
Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett said: “That risk is in our judgment excluded by the assurances which are offered. It follows that we are satisfied that, if the assurances had been before the judge, she would have answered the relevant question differently.”
U.S. prosecutors have indicted Assange on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over WikiLeaks’ publication of leaked military and diplomatic documents detailing alleged U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, in 2010 and 2011. The charges could lead to a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison.
The case will now go to U.K. Home Secretary Priti Patel who will take the final call on Assange’s extradition.
Following the High Court ruling, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said in a statement: “Julian’s life is once more under grave threat, and so is the right of journalists to publish material that governments and corporations find inconvenient. This is about the right of a free press to publish without being threatened by a bullying superpower.”
Assange, an Australian national, is expected to appeal the decision.