Former Melbourne school principal and alleged child sex abuser Malka Leifer has reportedly filed an appeal against a Jerusalem court’s ruling that she is fit to face an extradition trial.

Leifer has claimed mental illness in fighting her return to Australia and the case has dragged on in Israel since 2014.

The Jerusalem District Court on May 26 accepted a unanimous decision by a psychiatric panel that Leifer, a former principal of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne, was fit to face an extradition trial.

The Jerusalem Post reported on Wednesday that Leifer’s lawyers want a delay in the execution of the District Court’s decision to resume extradition proceedings pending the decision on the appeal.

They also want to present new evidence, a document by an Israeli Prison Service medical officer that rejects the court’s decision and states that Leifer is suffering from mental health issues.

-AAP