Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by AlexCoventry | Hacker News Reader

Full thread

AlexCoventry

Is there any risk that he could face further charges in Australia?

View on HN

The Australian government brokered the deal [0] after their parliament voted for him to be freed [1]

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/apr/10/biden-assange-...

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/14/austr...

Interesting, I’m guessing he didn’t expose many Australian secrets? Their government is fresh off of jailing a whistleblower (David McBride) ̶f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶r̶e̶s̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶l̶i̶f̶e̶ 5 years who exposed a so called war hero as someone who actually committed war crimes.

The phrase used by the attorney general was “enough is enough”. He was found guilty today and sentenced to time served, which was 5 years 1 month. David McBride seems to have been sentenced to 5 years 8 months. Where did you read he was jailed for life?

I don’t agree with either sentence, but they do not appear at odds with one another.

Ok, before he was sentenced he was told he was looking at life, I didn’t actually know about the sentencing. Thanks for the correction.

I disagree on the lack of connection.

> who exposed a so-called war hero as someone who actually committed war crimes.

Worth mentioning that this wasn't David's intentions. He leaked the documents as he thought special forces soldiers were being "unfairly" restricted via tighter rules of engagement & defense oversight in order to protect civilians. He wanted the ABC to tell everyone that special forces were being kept on too tight of a leash, not report on war crimes.

What you're talking about is a smear campaign from ABC:

https://independentaustralia.net/politics/politics-display/a...

This story about McBride's motivations really only makes sense if you're motivated to come up with some kind of post facto reasoning for why McBride is a bad guy for leaking the documents, while ABC reporters are heroes for selectively publishing them. Never passed the pub test, thanks for the link.

I'm not splitting hairs about if he's a (accidental) whistleblower or not (which is what that article seems to be about). He's never denied that his initial intentions for the documents were completely different than what transpired.

"He told another media outlet at the time that it was a “different story to the one I wanted. They (ABC) published something about SAS soldiers shooting people by accident, which I found disappointing.”"

He broke no laws in Australia.

But the fact he is pleading guilty to a serious crime will have further implications for his life e.g. preventing travel, not allowed to apply for certain jobs etc.

The fact his name is assange already makes him ineligible for a bunch of things, and his connections and popularity already open lots of doors for him that aren't open for you and I.

I think he'll be fine.

I doubt he'll ever be fine after what he's been through.

I think most likely his life is already over and he's being allowed to return to remaining years of psychological and physical ordeal following an experience most of us have no context to imagine.

I'm glad he's going home to his family, but this is a least-worst outcome to an awful miscarriage of justice that destroyed many lives.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com