A man jailed for leaking top secret information that led to accusations of Australian soldiers committing war crimes will learn his fate after appealing his sentence.
David McBride was jailed for at least two years and three months after pleading guilty to obtaining and disseminating classified defence information.
The result of his appeal will be handed down in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday.
McBride’s legal team has already flagged a High Court bid if the appeal doesn’t go their way.
McBride took 235 documents, 207 of which were classified as secret, and shared them with journalists.
The documents led to a series of reports that uncovered allegations Australian special forces soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
A subsequent inquiry found credible information about 23 incidents of potential war crimes, which involved the killing of 39 Afghans between 2005 and 2016.
ACT Justice David Mossop said the prison sentence reflected some concessions such as McBride’s early plea and mental health but needed to deter people from leaking classified information.
McBride’s lawyer Eddie Lloyd said there was a reasonable prospect of success.
She argued his sentence was too severe and not enough weight was given to his guilty plea.
Human rights advocates have called for the Commonwealth to drop the prosecution and for McBride to be freed, saying his jailing deters whistleblowing on wrongdoing.
Australian Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national newswire and has been delivering accurate, reliable and fast news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We keep Australia informed.
