Australian bill sees whistleblowing on intel ops punishable by up to 10 years in jail

Australia’s attorney general has proposed a new bill which would see potential whistleblowers facing up to 10 years in prison for leaks on special intelligence operations.
Publishing Snowden-like revelations could cost dear in Australia after attorney general George Brandis presented to the parliamentary joint committee on intelligence and security a new bill expanding powers of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO).
Australia’s attorney general George Brandis is known for labeling former NSA contractor Edward Snowden a “traitor” after a secret document reported by the Guardian Australia and obtained from Snowden last year revealed the Australian spy agency had been ready to share data on its citizens with its partners from the so-called 5-Eyes alliance (Australia, Britain, Canada New Zealand and the US).
The bill supposes the creation of a new offence for “any person” found guilty of disclosing “special intelligence operations” information, which would be five years behind bars.
“The five-year offence would seem to be able to apply even if the person had no idea about the special intelligence operation and they happened to release information which coincidentally was part of or related to the special intelligence operation,” leading Australian criminal law barrister Shane Prince commented to the Telegraph.
So a person could be put on trial for disclosing information on a “special intelligence operation” he never knew about – and would never get to know what the special intelligence operation was about during the trial, because it is an intelligence operation, that is – a secret one. http://rt.com/news/173264-australia-asio-whistleblowing-jail/