LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has appealed the British’s government decision to order his extradition to the U.S.

The appeal was filed Friday at the High Court. It's the latest twist in a decade-long legal saga sparked by his website’s publication of classified U.S. documents.

Assange’s supporters staged protests before his 51st birthday on Saturday. His wife Stella Assange was among people who gathered outside the Home Office on Friday to call for his release from prison.

Assange has been serving time in a British prison since 2019 when he was removed from the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Julian Assange has battled in British courts for years to avoid being sent to the U.S., where he faces 17 charges of espionage and one charge of computer misuse.