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November 22, 2023

Australian Army Whistleblower David McBride Pleads Guilty to Sharing Afghan War Crimes Information
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In Australia, former military lawyer and whistleblower David Mc Bride
has pleaded guilty to unlawfully sharing classified material. The
Australian government accused Mc Bride of jeopardizing national security
by sharing information on Australian war crimes in Afghanistan with two
journalists from ABC, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, who
published the revelations in the Afghan Files reports. The military
claimed public interest immunity in the case, allowing the government to
withhold key information, and dashing Mc Bride's chances of benefiting
from whistleblower protections. Mc Bride spoke to supporters outside the
courthouse.

David Mc Bride: "I stand tall, and I believe I did my duty. And I don't
see it as a defeat. I see it as the beginning of a better Australia."

Press freedom groups warned the case will have a chilling effect.

In related news, a group of 16 bipartisan U.S. congressmembers sent a
letter to President Biden earlier this month asking him to drop efforts
to extradite imprisoned Wiki Leaks founder Julian Assange from the U.K.
and to "not pursue an unnecessary prosecution that risks criminalizing
common journalistic practices."


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