Julian Assange, journalism icon and founder of WikiLeaks, will find out on Monday whether he may appeal to the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom against a High Court verdict that he could be extradited to the United States.

The High Court overturned an earlier decision by a British magistrates' court that extraditing the 50-year-old Australian to the US legal system would be "oppressive" due to his mental health and risk of suicide.

The court will now consider whether Assange, who is facing 18 counts in connection with the release of classified military data regarding wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to Wikileaks in 2010, will be allowed to appeal the judgment to the UK Supreme Court on "laws of great public concern."

WikiLeaks published classified military information linked to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010 that exposed the extent of unlawful war crimes committed on a wide scale, and Washington wants to try Assange in an effort to scare any potential journalistic efforts at exposing US crimes. 

In the United States, he might face a term of up to 175 years in prison, however, an exact sentence is difficult to predict.

Activists call for Assange's release

On Friday, a coalition of anti-war organizations and thousands of peace activists signed a declaration demanding his immediate release.

Stella Moris, his fiancee, said he had spent more time in Belmarsh than many violent-crime inmates.

Nathan Fuller, director of the Courage Foundation, said: "While the Biden administration is confronting US adversaries over their press freedom shortcomings, it should address its hypocrisy.

"Locking up Julian Assange for exposing the truth about US wars is an insult to all those struggling for peace and human rights."

Assange lawyers warn of suicide

US lawyers contended during a two-day hearing in October that a lower court judge had not given enough weight to other expert testimony about Assange's mental health.

They also cited diplomatic assurances that Assange would not be confined in severe isolation at a federal supermax jail and would get sufficient care after the January judgment.

Two judges at the High Court in London approved the appeal, saying that the fresh assurances were not unusual in such instances and were "solemn commitments provided by one government to another."

If Assange loses on Monday, the case would be handed to Interior Minister Priti Patel for a final decision.

Despite having served a previous sentence for breaking bail conditions in a separate case, Assange has been imprisoned at London's Belmarsh prison since 2019.

He stayed at Ecuador's embassy in London for seven years to avoid being deported to Sweden on sexual assault charges that were eventually dropped.