LONDON: The US government on Friday won an appeal against a London court ruling that had blocked the extradition of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange from Britain.

Washington challenged a decision made in January that the 50-year-old Australian would be a suicide risk if he was transferred to the US justice system.

The US government wants Assange to face trial for WikiLeaks’ publication in 2010 of classified military documents relating to the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

WikiLeaks founder Assange one step closer to extradition to United States

A two-day hearing was held in October where US lawyers argued that the original judge had not given sufficient weight to other expert testimony about his mental state. They also sought to assure the court that he would not be held in punishing isolation at a federal supermax prison, and would receive appropriate treatment.

Two appeal judges at the High Court in London accepted US assurances that Assange would not face the strictest measures before any trial or after conviction.