London High Court has ruled that Julian Assange should be extradited to face espionage charges—and a potentially lengthy prison sentence—in the U.S.

The ruling was based on an appeal by the U.S. government against a British court’s previous refusal to extradite Assange. After assurances from Washington that the WikiLeaks founder would be treated fairly pre and post trial, the court ruled that he should be flown to the U.S.

Lord Chief Justice Lord Burnett addressed risks that Assange might commit suicide during the brief reading of the ruling, “That risk is in our judgment excluded by the assurances which are offered,” he said. “It follows that we are satisfied that, if the assurances had been before the judge, she would have answered the relevant question differently.”

The judge said the case will now be sent to Westminster magistrates court to process. The U.K. Home Secretary will have the final say on whether to extradite him. Washington lawyers have floated the suggestion that he could return to Australia to serve any sentence though in reality, that would be up to the judge overseeing the case.

Assange’s fiancée Stella Moris said the High Court decision was a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

It is unclear when he might be transferred to the U.S., or if there are other legal loopholes his legal team could try to avoid being extradited.

The 50-year-old Australian has been languishing in a British prison after years going into exile in the Ecuador embassy in London to beat extradition to Sweden where he faced rape and sexual assault charges, which have since been dropped. While in the embassy, he fathered two children with Moris and where he was apparently a slob who aggravated the staff.

While there, the Ecuadorian tax payers footed the bill for a private security firm to keep Assange safe and to vet his substantial guest-list which included celebrities like Pamela Anderson, controversial political figures like Dana Rohrabacher and alleged spies.

He has been in custody since 2019 when he left the embassy after they revoked his citizenship over unpaid bills.

Assange faces 18 charges relating to WikiLeaks 2010 release of half a million classified U.S. government documents relating to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. He faces 175 years in prison if convicted.