Blocking his ability to tell a jury his motive, a judge sentenced David McBride to 5 years & 8 months in prison, of which he spent his 365th day Wednesday, for leaking evidence of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
May 14, marks one year in jail for Australian whistleblower David McBride. McBride is in prison for leaking to the media evidence of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.
A three-judge panel in the Australian capital has been weighing his appeal for ten weeks. Their decision could determine if a soldier’s duty is to serve the public or only his superior officers even if it means covering up evidence of his nation’s war crimes.
The judges are also in essence considering the question of whether Australian soldiers owe their allegiance to the British crown or to the people of Australia.
The three Court of Appeal judges have been deliberating to decide if the trial judge erred in not permitting McBride a public interest defense.
When classified evidence was removed from the courtroom during his trial, the former military lawyer was left with little choice but to plead guilty in November 2023 to breaching national security laws for leaking the war crimes story to the media.
In blocking his ability to tell a jury his motive, the trial judge then sentenced McBride to a harsh five years and eight months in prison, of which he’s now spent 12 months at the Alexander Maconochie Centre in the Australian capital territory.
McBride wants Judge David Mossop’s ruling to be overturned and a trial to be held before a jury, which would be allowed to hear such a defense. Alternately, McBride is appealing for a reduction of sentence to community service.
An independent report into the Afghan war crimes, which could have had a bearing on the outcome of McBride’s case, was not released by the Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles until the day of sentencing. The Afghanistan Inquiry Implementation Oversight Panel Report was completed on Nov. 8, 2023 — nine days before Mossop rejected a public interest defense leading to McBride’s guilty plea.
The independent panel report was withheld by the Australian defense minister until the day of McBride’s sentencing because, as the minister wrote in the cover letter, “disclosure of the documents by these orders would, or could reasonably be expected to, prejudice legal proceedings – specifically current and future war crimes prosecutions.”
Senator David Shoebridge, outside the Canberra court building on March 3, the day of McBride’s appeal, told a crowd of supporters:
“I can tell you now there were multiple reports going up the chain about the war crimes in Afghanistan. How is it that nobody in a position of senior leadership in the ADF has ever been seriously challenged? Something is wrong. We have a system in which power protects power in this country. And David tried to … knock a hole in this wall of protection for senior decision makers. And if you want to know why he’s in jail, it’s because of that. … He said surely there is a higher good, surely there is a public interest which should break that wall down of impunity.”
[See: Judges Weighing Appeal By Whistleblower Who Exposed Cover-Up of Australian War Crimes in Afghanistan]
Shoebridge said McBride was denied presenting evidence because the court said it would prejudice national security. “I can tell you now what prejudices national security: a sense of impunity in the senior leadership … breaking international laws and destroying Australia’s international reputation … that’s what impacts national security,” he said. [See: Whitaker Chambers & the Pumpkin Papers]
Our guests today are McBride’s lawyer Eddie Lloyd. She is a principal solicitor at Lloyd Criminal Law.
David Shoebridge has been a senator in the Australian Parliament since 2022.
Shoebridge is rare example these days it seems of a politician who has not left his humanity behind once he enters Parliament. The other day on the ABC program Q&A he said it was worth a political hit to stand up for the people of Palestine and against the genocide being imposed on them.
He has also been an outspoken supporter of David McBride.
And our third guest is John Shipton, who spent the past five years tirelessly campaigning around the world for the release from prison of his son, Julian Assange. John is also a friend and supporter of McBride.
Interviewer: Joe Lauria Producer: Cathy Vogan Time: 1:27.13
senator shoebridge’s remarks regarding australia almost
being “the 51st” of the united states of america resonate
with me bc my EU country is in exactly the same position:
our lawmakers stand and side firmly with the US,
still fooling themselves into thinking that we are close
friends and allies with the huge hegemon.
victoria nuland once used the “f…”-word to made quite
clear what she really thought of europe, and probably
even less of my EU country …
even though it hosts the largest US airbase in europe.
our lawmakers, after a break of 20 years, will welcome
new US missiles on our territory next year, missiles
which can reach moscow in no time.
in 1983, hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated
against stationing pershing II missiles in my EU country.
nowadays too few people even bother anymore. alas!
I wrote to the Prime Minister that the Australian Government is sending a message to the Australian people – “You will pay if
you question the actions of the Government”. I also wrote that “war is a blasphemy. It is mass murder and State terrorism”. The only time war is justified is if there is absolutely no other way to ward off an attack.
What right does a judge have to block a defendant from trying to defend himself against the charges by telling his story, from explaining why he did what he did?
Isn’t a trial supposed to determine the truth about an alleged crime, and even to determine whether the act the defendant admits to is in fact a crime?
The act of blocking McBride’s testimony is a simple but vital travesty of justice, for which the judge in question should himself be put on trial to answer.
What they are protecting is the false morality of war as an unaccountable institution unleashed by governments for strategic purposes who do not want to know the details just see results.. It is like saying we believe in a rules based world order which is purely imaginary and also funding all sorts of covert agencies whose purpose is to violate the law in secret even when it is no secret at all.. It s the nose blindness of modern civilization. .
The shallowness and narrowness of the one who wears the gown of “Judge” leaks out into the nature of the “judgment” he she makes.
My first impulse upon reading the initial blurb? The Judge needs “rehabilitation”, sufficient to allowing the door to wisdom to open and be acknowledged. This judgment truly patriarchal, all about power and “the judge’s importance”, strictly punitive. Devoid of understanding, absent mercy. Edict not true good discriminating Truth judgment. On the side of death instead of what gives/honors life. Very sad.