PNN – Australia has sentenced a middle-aged man who exposed the country’s role in the killing of defenseless men and children in Afghanistan in 2017 to about six years in prison.
According to Pakistan News Network’s report from AFP on Tuesday, Australian media reported: David McBride, who is accused of accessing military information and disclosing it, has been sentenced to five years and eight months in prison.
The ABC had received a series of information from McBride that Australian soldiers during their years in Afghanistan were involved in the killing of unarmed men and children in this Asian country.
According to the BBC News Network, the information he provided to this network was the basis of a series of reports that became known as the “Afghanistan Files” in 2017 and opened an unprecedented window into the way Australian special forces operate in Afghanistan, including accusations of committing war crime.
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After the attacks of September 11, 2001, more than 26,000 Australian military personnel were sent to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban, al-Qaeda and other radical Islamist groups.
Australian troops left Afghanistan in 2013, but since then a series of reports have leaked out about Australian special forces brutality. These reports include the killing of a six-year-old child by Australian forces and the killing of a prisoner to clear space in a helicopter.
ABC’s “Afghan Files” revelations led to police raiding the network’s offices and questioning ABC reporter Daniel Oakes and producer Sam Clark for obtaining classified information.
In November 2020, a multi-year investigation found that Australian special forces killed 39 civilians and prisoners in Afghanistan.
The case led to 19 people being referred to the Australian Federal Police, compensation to the families of the victims, and many reforms to the military.