Yesterday, Britain's High Court ruled that WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange—who stands accused of violating the Espionage Act due to his 2010 decision to publish classified documents leaked by whistleblower Chelsea Manning that revealed disturbing U.S. military actions—cannot be extradited to the United States until greater assurances are provided about how he will be treated in custody and at trial, including receiving First Amendment protections.

The court gave U.S. authorities three weeks to provide assurances that Assange "is permitted to rely on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution…that he is not prejudiced at trial (including sentence) by reason of his nationality, that he is afforded the same First Amendment protections as a United States citizen and that the death penalty is not imposed."

This decision had been anxiously awaited by Assange-watchers, given that he is very close to the end of the road, in terms of appeals, within the British court system.

The U.S. has until May 20 to provide these assurances to the British High Court; if they are not satisfactory, he will receive a full appeal hearing in the U.K. Concurrently, Assange's legal team is seeking an appeal with the European Court of Human Rights, which could possibly delay extradition further.

In other words, his fate remains uncertain, but this move by the British court is a decidedly good one. For more on Assange's case, watch this episode of my show, Just Asking Questions, in which Zach Weissmueller and I interviewed Julian's wife, Stella (who also happens to be an attorney who has worked on his case).