Julian Assange, founder of Wikileaks, has appealed to Britain’s Supreme court against an earlier ruling by a High Court that said he could be extradited to the United States, according to a Reuters report.

Assange has been charged in the US under the Espionage Act for publishing documents of classified military and diplomatic information in 2010 and 2011 – a leak that the US believes endangered lives. 

On December 10, the High Court in London had overruled a lower court’s verdict that had said Assange could not be sent to the US, owing to mental health concerns. 

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However, in the recent order, given by Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett and Lord Justice Holroyde, the high court had said that it was satisfied with the assurances given by the US about the conditions of the 50-year-old’s detention, which also included a promise that he would not be held in the ‘ADX’ highest security prison in Colorado, and the possibility that he could be sent to Australia to serve his sentence. 

“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. That conclusion is sufficient to determine this appeal in the USA’s favour,” Lord Burnett had said.

Regarding the appeal to the Supreme Court, Assange’s fiancée, Stella Moris, said in a statement, “Under English law, in order for the application to have a chance to be considered by the Supreme Court, first the same High Court judges who ordered Julian Assange’s extradition must certify that at least one of the Supreme Court appeal grounds is a point of law of general public importance.”

She added that the application for leave to appeal is under consideration by the High Court judges, and a final decision could be expected by the third week of January, Reuters reported.