British Home Secretary Priti Patel has approved the extradition of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange to the United States, where he faces 175 years in prison. This is stated in the Twitter account of the international organization.

She added that Assange retains the right to appeal the extradition decision within two weeks.

WikiLeaks reports that the defense will appeal this decision and will appeal to the High Court in London.

In April, a court in London issued an extradition order for Assange to the United States. Then it was reported that the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs would make the final decision.

Last January, a British judge rejected Washington's extradition request for Assange, ruling that such a move would be "punitive" given his state of mental health. The American side accuses him of espionage and disclosure of classified information, including the publication of letters from the hacked servers of the Democratic Party on the WikiLeaks portal. The project published top-secret materials obtained from anonymous sources, including Pentagon documents on the course of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on December 10 opposed the decision of the High Court in London, which had previously allowed the extradition. The IFJ also called on US President Joe Biden to end the politically motivated persecution by dropping all charges against Assange.

In October 2021, Assange was reported to have suffered a stroke in London's Belmarsh High Security Prison. According to his fiancée, after the stroke, he suffered a drooping right eyelid, memory problems and signs of neurological damage. According to the founder of WikiLeaks himself, the stress from the ongoing trial and the general deterioration of health led to this.