On Friday, the English High Court paved the way for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to be extradited to the United States and tried over the publication of hundreds of thousands of documents, some of which contained evidence of US and British war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The decision reversed a ruling in January by a lower court that had blocked the extradition, but only on humanitarian grounds: that Assange would be put at severe risk of suicide by the oppressive conditions of his detention in the US.

The 50-year old Australian faces a sentence of up to 175 years in prison if found guilty.

Amnesty International described the ruling as a "travesty of justice," while Rebecca Vincent of Reporters Without Borders tweeted that it was an "appalling" decision that "marks a bleak moment for journalists and journalism around the world."

Assange's lawyers said they will appeal the ruling at the supreme court. But the fight to free Assange – even if ultimately successful – is certain to drag on for many more years.

The WikiLeaks founder has already spent more than a decade in various forms of incarceration: house arrest, political asylum and, since early 2019, solitary confinement in Belmarsh high-security prison in London.