David McBride, a former army lawyer, was among the speakers at a Sydney rally on Wednesday defending persecuted WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange.
McBride is himself under attack. As a whistleblower, he provided to media outlets evidence of Australian war crimes in Afghanistan, including the murder of civilians and other violations of international law.
For these offenses, McBride, the man who exposed them, is the first to be brought before a court. Last month, a court ruled that criminal proceedings against McBride will be heard in November. Under draconian national security legislation, the whistleblower could be jailed for life.
In the video below, McBride speaks on the clear parallels between his case, and that of Assange.
As the WSWS has previously noted, the prosecution of McBride is a damning exposure of the federal Labor government. It has full power to drop the charges against the whistleblower and to guarantee his liberty. But Labor has refused to do this.
As McBride notes below, sharing a WSWS article, this further reveals the fraudulent character of Labor’s highly conditional professed concern for Assange.
