A UK court has denied the US request to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on espionage charges.

According to the media reports, the ruling was delivered at the Central Criminal Court by the district Judge, Vanessa Baraitser.

Assange, 49, would face a total of 17 charges of espionage and computer hacking in the US after he enflamed Washington by publishing documents revealing the grim realities of the so-called “war on terror”.

If extradited, the WikiLeaks founder could have been sentenced to as many as 175 years in a high-security jail.

British district judge Vanessa Baraitser delivered her ruling at London’s Central Criminal Court, known as the Old Bailey.

She said Assange would be kept in custody, ahead of an appeal expected from the US.