Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is sentenced to prison
Army whistleblower who exposed alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan is sentenced to prison
He was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three charges including theft and sharing with members of the press documents classified as secret.
Right wing governments love prosecuting whistleblowers.
The previous coalition government started this persecution, but Albo's Labor government drove it home.
So it seems like governments love prosecuting whistleblowers would be the correct take on this situation.
Edit: Just to be extra clear, Australia's current government is Labor (center left party), but the previous government was a coalition of the Liberals (mainstream, yet still far right party) and the Nationals (deep fried crazy far right party).
So the unjust prosecution of David McBride started under the previous rightwing coalition government, but the current left leaning Labor government continued the prosecution and got the conviction.
Man wasn't allowed to defend himself. Absolute farce.
And still whistleblowers are being sentenced, jailed, prosecuted by Gvements ( and sometimes killed)
I get the security thing, but war crimes and industrial crimes should be measured on another different scale altogether. Most of those guys should get a medal, imo. WTF?!
McBride addressed his supporters as he walked his dog to the front door of the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court to be sentenced.
Why does the dog have to get sentenced? It's well known that they can't help themselves when they hear a whistle blow.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
David McBride, 60, was sentenced in a court in the capital, Canberra, to five years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty to three charges including theft and sharing with members of the press documents classified as secret.
Rights advocates argue that McBride’s conviction and sentencing before any alleged war criminal he helped expose reflected a lack of whistleblower protections in Australia.
Police raided the ABC’s Sydney headquarters in 2019 in search of evidence of a leak, but decided against charging the two reporters responsible for the investigation.
McBride’s argument that his suspicions that the higher echelons of the Australian Defense Force were engaged in criminal activity obliged him to disclose classified papers “didn’t reflect reality,” Mossop said.
Also last year, a civil court found Australia’s most decorated living war veteran Ben Roberts-Smith had likely unlawfully killed four Afghans.
Wilkie quit his intelligence job in Australia’s Office of National Assessments days before Australian troops joined U.S. and British forces in the 2003 Iraq invasion.
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Boy Boy episode about this.
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"Democracy btw"