The British court said that there can be an appeal of his Extradition to the US

The Australian-born journalist and the U.S. citizen in charge of espionage in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: A high court ruling on Assange’s deportation

The decision on Monday by two judges on the High Court of Justice clears the way for a full appeal of that deportation, in which he can argue that his First Amendment rights are limited by his nationality. Both an Australian and a US citizen have been appointed by the United States to act as custodians of the data.

One of the lawyers for Mr. Assange questioned if it was possible for the judicial branch in the U.S. to get involved in the case since there wasn’t a separation of powers in the United States.

But even if his appeal is ultimately denied by the British courts, Assange’s lawyers say they will appeal to an even higher authority, the European Court of Human Rights. That court would then need to intervene swiftly with an injunction to prevent Assange’s transfer to the U.S.

If judges decide that he wouldn’t face the same legal protections in the U.S. court as he would in the British system, he could be released.

Critics of the U.S. government’s pursuit of Assange hailed Monday’s decision as an important victory, but warned the American prosecution efforts continued to overshadow press freedom.

Assange faces 18 charges in the US, all but one under the Espionage Act, for publishing classified information related to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. A conviction under the act would require prosecutors to demonstrate that in order to damage the United States, Assange obtained national defense information but also released it with the intent to harm the country.

Dozens of supporters chanted and played bullhorns as they attended a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice thatsails the British and American authorities.

The Assange High Court Case in the U.S. for Leaking and Publishing Military Secrets: When Manning Acceded

His wife, who was present when he was working on his team, is worried that he could be sent to the U.S. as soon as this week where he could face up to 175 years in prison.

In February, lawyers for Assange submitted nine separate grounds for a possible appeal, but then in March the two High Court judges, Victoria Sharp and Adam Johnson, responded to those requests by saying there was a “real prospect of success” on only three grounds.

Assange gained global prominence in 2010 when WikiLeaks, the organization he founded, released hundreds of thousands of classified documents focused on the U.S. military’s activities in Iraq and Afghanistan that were leaked to the site by Chelsea Manning, then an Army intelligence analyst.

He could be charged with 17 acts of espionage and a count of computer misuse for his alleged involvement in a conspiracy to take possession of and publish national defense information.

Two judges at the High Court in London today said Assange can officially challenge his extradition order from the United Kingdom in the long-running dispute over the leaking and publication of military secrets.

The US prosecutors say they expect him to serve no more than five years, though his attorneys say he could be sentenced to 175 years in prison.

Prosecutors in the US allege that Assange, 52, overstepped his role as a journalist in online conversations with a source, Chelsea Manning, a former Army intelligence analyst, by allegedly offering to help the then-22-year-old private crack a hashed password that could have hypothetically furthered her illicit access to a classified Defense Department network.

Manning was sentenced to more than two years in prison for leaking more than 750,000 documents while working as an intelligence analyst. While portrayed as damaging by the Obama administration, diplomatic cables were simply embarrassing for US diplomats, who wrote candidly about foreign leaders in their reports back home.