Australian police raid ABC headquarters over stories

By Tugcenur Yilmaz and Zehra Ulucak

ANKARA (AA) - Police in Australia launched a raid on Australian Broadcasting Corporation headquarters in Sydney over a series of stories it carried in 2017, the broadcasting corporation said Wednesday.

The Afghan Files accused Australian special troops of civilian killings in Afghanistan.

“The stories, by ABC investigative journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark revealed allegations of unlawful killings and misconduct by Australian special forces in Afghanistan and were based off hundreds of pages of secret Defence documents leaked to the ABC,” it said.

The Australian police has a warrant to search through email systems in relation to the journalists and are searching "data holdings" between April 2016 and July 2017, ABC said. Police are also searching for article drafts, graphics, digital notes, visuals, raw television footage and all versions of scripts related to the stories.

Top management of the ABC raised concerns over press freedom amid the raid.

"This is a serious development and raises legitimate concerns over freedom of the press and proper public scrutiny of national security and Defence matters," ABC Managing Director David Anderson said.

He added: "The ABC stands by its journalists, will protect its sources and continue to report without fear or favour on national security and intelligence issues when there is a clear public interest."

* Erdogan Cagatay Zontur contributed to this story