Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States has been approved by the British government –

The British government extradited WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the United States on espionage charges. He will likely appeal.

Home Secretary Pretty Patel signed the extradition order on Friday, her department said. This followed a British court ruling in April that Assange could be sent to the US.

The Home Office said in a statement that “British courts have not ruled that Assange’s extradition is likely to be coercive, unfair or abusive.”

“They also failed to find that extradition is inconsistent with his human rights, including a fair trial and freedom of expression, and that he will be treated properly while in the United States, including for his health.”

This decision marks a major milestone in Assange’s years-long struggle to avoid a US lawsuit, though not necessarily the end of the story. Assange has 14 days to appeal.

A British judge approved the extradition in April, leaving the final decision in the hands of the government. The decision was taken after a legal battle that reached the UK Supreme Court.

The United States has asked the British government to extradite Assange to appear in court on 17 counts of espionage and one count of computer abuse for publishing a large collection of documents classified by WikiLeaks more than a decade ago. US prosecutors say Assange illegally helped US Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal secret diplomatic documents and military files that were later leaked to WikiLeaks, threatening her life.

Media organizations and human rights groups have asked the UK to withdraw its extradition request.

Supporters and lawyers for Assange, 50, argued that he played the role of a journalist and has a First Amendment right to defend his freedom of speech by publishing documents exposing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. They argue that his case is politically motivated.

Assange’s lawyers say he faces up to 175 years in prison if tried in the United States, although US officials said any sentence was likely to be much shorter.

Assange has been in London Belmarsh Prison since 2019, when he was arrested during a separate bail trial. He had already spent seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London to avoid extradition to Sweden on rape and sexual assault charges.

Sweden stopped investigating sex crimes in November 2019 because too much time had passed.