Australia police drop probe into Afghan ‘war crimes’ reporting

Police on Thursday dropped a lengthy investigation into a journalist who exposed alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. The Australian Federal Police said prosecutors found there were “reasonable prospects of conviction” in the case against Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Daniel Oakes, but determined it was not in the public interest to proceed with criminal charges. The decision came more than three years after the broadcaster ABC published the so-called “Afghan files”, which alleged Australian troops had killed unarmed men and children in Afghanistan, a potential war crime. Police were investigating Oakes and his producer, Sam Clark, for obtaining classified information from a government whistle-blower – even controversially raiding the ABC’s Sydney headquarters last year. In a statement, the federal police said prosecutors “considered a range of public interest factors, including the role of public interest journalism in Australia’s democracy” before deciding not to prosecute. ABC’s managing director David Anderson welcomed the police decision on Oakes, but added the “matter should never had gone this far”. style="width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0; bottom: 0; right: 0; left: 0;">