SYDNEY: A London HC decision upholding Julian Assange's extradition to Sweden makes it more likely he will be sent to US and even tortured, his mother was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press (AAP) on Wednesday.

Christine Assange called on Australians to put pressure on the government to secure guarantees that her son Julian would not be extradited to the United States, fearing for his safety, AAP reported.

"Now Julian's even closer to a US extradition. It's now up to the (Australian) people to use their democracy or lose it. If they don't stand up for Julian , he will go to the US and he will be tortured. And he is the person who stood up for the world to expose the truth.

"Julia Gillard should be standing up to the US and saying 'not this time. You're not going to take one of our countrymen and torture them just because they told the truth' ," she told AAP. "He's been crucified for doing what he was brought up to do," she added.

She said she further feared that her son, if extradited to Sweden, could be held indefinitely without charge and without access to visitors and that any trial could be conducted behind closed doors. "People think that because Sweden is a Western country that they have a legal system the same as ours, that's completely untrue," she said.