LONDON (NEWSnet/AP) — A London court is due to rule whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange gets a final appeal in England to challenge extradition to the United States on espionage charges.

Two judges are scheduled to issue a judgment Tuesday that could end Assange’s legal saga, or extend it.

If he fails to receive the right to appeal, his legal team fears he could be sent to the U.S. to face charges.

Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. U.S. prosecutors allege Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.

At a hearing in February, Assange’s lawyers argued that he was a secrecy-busting journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Afghanistan and Iraq. Sending him to the United States, they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”

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