Julian Assange may be on his way to freedom but this is not a clear victory for freedom of the press

Julian Assange is expected to plead guilty to a felony charge in a deal with the US Justice Department that will allow him to be released from prison and return home to Australia. Photograph: Mourad Balti Touati/EPA

The release from a UK prison of Julian Assange is a victory for him and his many supporters around the world, but not necessarily a clear win for the principle underlying his defence, the freedom of the press.

The charges Assange is anticipated to plead guilty to as part of a US deal, and for which he will be sentenced to time served, are drawn from the 1917 Espionage Act, for “conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information related to the national defense of the United States”.