Sorry, but Julian Assange’s Plea Deal Still Threatens Free Speech

The prosecution of Julian Assange is finally over after the Australian WikiLeaks founder agreed to plead guilty to violating the U.S. Espionage Act on Monday. That’s better than the worst-case scenario—trying Assange in a U.S. court for exposing war crimes—but the case should have never gotten this far.

The shameful, years-long saga has left the U.S.’s global credibility on press freedom severely diminished. Even worse, it has put national security journalists on notice that the U.S. government stands ready and willing to criminalize their work at its discretion.