Just like that, serious criminal charges against ABC investigative journalist Dan Oakes, who reported leaked material of atrocties committed by Australian elite troops against civilians in Afghanistan, have been dropped.
Oakes and Sam Clark were part of a special team at the national broadcaster which was investigating hundreds of pages of secret Australian Defence Force (ADF) documents about the killings of unarmed Afghans by Special Air Service Regiment (SAS) soldiers.
They published what they found in in July 2017. Since then, they have been hounded by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and lived with the threat of imprisonment, or worse, after refusing to hand over the files.
Oakes was informed he was a suspect in a crime in September 2018. The following June, the AFP raided the ABC鈥檚 offices in Sydney in spectacular fashion. Days before, News Corp journalist Annika Smethurst鈥檚 home had also been raided; the charges against her were dropped earlier this year.
The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) and the AFP announced on October 15 they had dropped the case against Oakes. They said there was a 鈥渞easonable chance鈥 of securing a conviction against him on two of three alleged crimes, but there was .
The AFP said the CDPP had 鈥渃onsidered a range of public interest factors鈥 including 鈥渢he role of public interest journalism鈥 and determined that 鈥渢he public interest does not require a prosecution in the particular circumstances of this case鈥.
The 鈥渘o public interest鈥 argument is important, because legal rulings are never made in a vacuum: context always plays a role.
The fact that the ABC refused to be bullied, left The Afghan Files online, and continued to report on what it had discovered about Australian鈥 troops criminal actions in Afghanistan, would have helped Oakes鈥 defence.
The revelations in July of a by SAS troops in December 2012, adds to a long list of war crimes that the public has only recently been able to see.
In The Afghan Files, journalists make clear they were given hundreds of secret documents suggesting that there was 鈥渁 growing unease鈥 at the highest levels of the ADF about 鈥渢he culture of Australia鈥檚 special forces鈥. The documents refer to ingrained 鈥減roblems鈥 in the SAS, including a 鈥渨arrior culture鈥, 鈥渁 willingness by officers to turn a blind eye to poor behaviour鈥 and divisions between the two elite units 鈥 an SAS unit based in Perth and the 2nd Commando Regiment based in Sydney.
The briefs refer to 鈥渁t least 10 incidents between 2009鈥2013 in which special forces troops shot dead insurgents, but also unarmed men and children鈥. We have since learned that frustration among special forces soldiers who spoke up against these crimes drove at least one to .
A secret investigation into war crimes allegations against Australian special forces operating in Afghanistan, conducted over the past four years by the under New South Wales Justice Paul Brereton, has been due to report its results for several months now.
The dropping of criminal charges against Oakes should be welcomed but there is still much to be fought for.
Serious charges for breaching the Defence Act are still hanging over military lawyer David McBride, who faces possible life imprisonment. He said in June last year that he felt compelled to make the war crimes public after the ADF and Department of Defence failed to act on his complaints.
While there is now a greater understanding of the need to protect whistleblowers and journalists, and to bring those responsible for criminal acts to justice, this is not enough.
Lifting the lid on war crimes needs to lead to more. Australia needs to stop joining US-led imperialist interventions. It also has a moral duty to work for the people of Afghanistan to rebuild their country, destroyed by 20 years of war.
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