What is the case against WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, who can now appeal his extradition to the US?

The recent order comes as a relief for Assange, who has spent the last few years in the UK in confinement to evade extradition attempts.

The High Court in London allowed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appeal against his extradition to the United States on May 20. The US government has made several attempts in recent years to have Assange face trial on its soil over charges of espionage.

The recent order comes as a relief for Assange, who has spent the last few years in the UK in confinement to evade extradition attempts. In the late 2000s, his website WikiLeaks made public thousands of pieces of confidential documents linked to the US military. These revelations are at the centre of the criminal charges against him now.

Assange, 52, is an Australian citizen. Early on in his life, he displayed an interest in computer hacking. These skills were put to use in a website he founded in 2006, called WikiLeaks. It describes itself as a media organisation that publishes confidential government and corporate documents for maintaining transparency.

Assange shot to global prominence in a few years, thanks to his website. Some of its most notable “leaks” were documents from the US government, saying the US military had killed hundreds of civilians in unreported incidents during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.