Australia | Police raid public broadcaster over Afghan leak

Australia’s Federal Police raided the offices of the national public broadcaster yesterday in connection to a 2017 story based on leaked military documents that indicated the country’s military forces were being investigated for possible war crimes in Afghanistan.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said the raid, the second in as many days by police investigating government leaks, raised questions about media freedom in the country.

“It is highly unusual for the national broadcaster to be raided in this way,” ABC managing director David Anderson said in a statement. “This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and defense matters.”

The raid in a suburb of Sydney came a day after federal police searched the Canberra home of Annika Smethurst, the political editor of The Sunday Telegraph of Sydney, over a 2018 story detailing an alleged government proposal to spy on Australians.

News Corp. Australia, the parent company of The Sunday Telegraph, said the raid “demonstrates a dangerous act of intimidation towards those committed to telling uncomfortable truths”.

There were no arrests in either raid.

Australian law forbids officials from disclosing secret information, and the police warrants in both raids were based on a law enacted in 1914.

The police said in a statement that the two raids were not linked.

Anderson said ABC stood by its journalists, would protect its sources and continue to report “without fear or favor” on national security and intelligence issues.

“We will be doing everything we can to limit the scope of this and we will do everything we can to stand by our reporters and as a general observation, we always do whatever we can to stand by our sources of course,” ABC Editorial Director Craig McMurtrie said. AP