UK interior minister Priti Patel will have the final decision on whether Wikileaks founder Julian Assange should be extradited to the U.S. over the release of confidential documents, a British judge has ruled.

The decision, part of a long-running legal battle, was announced on Wednesday in London after a March decision to deny the Australian-born prisoner permission to appeal against his extradition.

The extradition order must now be signed by Patel, after which Assange can try to challenge the decision with a judicial review where a judge will examine the legitimacy of such a decision.

Assange, 50, is wanted in the U.S. for allegedly committing 18 criminal charges, including breaking a spying law, after WikiLeaks published thousands of secret U.S. files in 2010.

He has denied any wrongdoing.

Assange has been in a southeast London jail since 2019, after staying in the Ecuadorean Embassy in the British capital for seven years.