A court in Australia has imposed a jail term of over five years on a whistleblower for disclosing secret military documents addressing the operations of the special forces in Afghanistan, Tuesday’s news outlets conveyed.
David McBride, who was formerly serving as a military lawyer, was found guilty on three counts, including filching and distributing over 200 confidential documents to media personnel. While McBride acknowledged disseminating the classified documents, he maintained it was for the country’s welfare.
An inquiry stretching over four years, dubbed the Brereton report, unveiled in 2020 that Australian special forces are alleged to have unlawfully executed 39 unarmed captives and civilians in Afghanistan spanning from 2005 to 2016.
As a consequence, Australia put forward 19 serving and past soldiers for possible legal proceedings. Supreme Court Judge David Mossop of the Australian Capital Territory discounted McBride’s claim that he thought he wasn’t violating the law.
According to the ABC report, the judge established that McBride’s offences were magnified due to his elite security clearance that provided him access to such materials – Reuters
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