In 2020, Brereton handed down findings that there was credible evidence to support allegations war crimes had been committed. That case was a notable moment that came more than seven years after the Australian government established an inquiry, led by Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton, into allegations that Australian troops had committed war crimes in Afghanistan. McBride has not been the first or only person to reveal information about alleged Australian war crimes in Afghanistan.ĭramatically, an Australian judge found earlier this year that journalists had not defamed one of Australia’s most highly decorated soldiers Ben Roberts-Smith by saying he was “complicit in and responsible for the murder” of three Afghan men. McBride’s trial will be heard by both a judge and jury and will begin in the Australian Capital Territory’s Supreme Court at 10am Canberra time on Monday (23:00 GMT on Sunday). He is going on trial “without the benefit of being able to rely” on a whistleblower defence, Kieran Pender a lawyer with the Human Rights Law Centre, an Australian organisation based in Melbourne, told Al Jazeera. Australian army whistleblower David McBride speaking outside the Supreme Court in Canberra, Australia, in November 2019 during the lengthy legal proceedings against him Īlthough McBride, a former lawyer for the Australian and British armies, sees the information he revealed as being in the public interest, his ability to claim a whistleblowing defence has been limited by claims of national security. “What I want to be discussed is whether or not I was justified in doing so,” the whistleblower says. Instead, he wants the conversation to be about whether it was right to speak out.

“I’ve been charged with leaking documents,” McBride said. McBride is open about the fact he leaked documents to the ABC, Australia’s public broadcaster, leading to a series of articles called the Afghan Files.

“It’s extremely likely that I will be facing prison and not just short term but for quite a long time,” the defence whistleblower added. “It seems strange that when clearly so many things went wrong in the wars of Afghanistan and Iraq, that I am the first person to ”, McBride told Al Jazeera in an interview before his trial began. Keep reading list of 3 items list 1 of 3 In this time of war, too many torturers are evading justice list 2 of 3 Australian soldier Ben Roberts-Smith ‘complicit in murder’: Judge list 3 of 3 Australia confronts ‘war hero’ myth after Ben Roberts-Smith case end of list

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