Australian-East Timorese espionage scandal

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Borders according to the Timor Sea Treaty and the theoretical exclusive economic zone of East Timor . The orange circles show the location of the oil / gas fields.

In the 2013 Australian-East Timorese espionage scandal , it became known that Australia had wiretapped East Timorese politicians in order to gain advantages during negotiations to resolve the border dispute between Australia and East Timor in 2004. The bugging of ASIS ( Australian Secret Intelligence Service ) was the former ASIS agent Witness K announced. East Timor then terminated the existing contracts for the division of the oil and gas reserves in the Timor Sea . In the contract that came into force in 2019, East Timor has a far larger share of the profits from mineral resources. Australia has taken legal action against Witness K and his attorney Bernard Collaery .

Historical background

While Australia and Indonesia contractually agreed to draw the border between the two states in the Timor Sea as early as 1972, no agreement could be found with Portugal on the maritime border with its colony Portuguese Timor . The gap in the border was called the "Timor Gap". When Portugal was preparing the colony for independence as the state of East Timor in 1975 , Indonesia initially provoked a civil war in East Timor with the secret Operation Komodo and finally occupied it on December 7, 1975. The invasion ( Operation Seroja ) was justified with the stabilization of the country and the Defense against communism . The United States and Australia had previously signaled their consent to Indonesia. Australian government documents, such as diplomatic mail and cabinet documents, remain secret after a 2020 court ruling, as if the documents were leaked it was expected "that they could damage the security or international relations of the [Australian] Commonwealth". Some documents became known during the trial and through British archives. Indonesia officially declared the annexation of East Timor as a province in 1976, which the United Nations did not recognize. As the only state in the world, Australia received de facto recognition through the conclusion of the Timor Gap Treaty with Indonesia in 1989 to close the border gap. This gave Australia extensive access to the raw materials in the Timor Sea. Portugal, which still officially held the suzerainty of East Timor internationally, sued Australia in the International Court of Justice over the Timor Gap Treaty , but the court was unable to hold a hearing because Indonesia refused to attend.

Australian soldiers in Dili (2000)

After 24 years of war in East Timor with around 200,000 dead, international pressure increased on Indonesia to find a solution to the conflict. After the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998, Australian Prime Minister John Howard pushed for an independence referendum in East Timor , which Indonesia's President Habibie finally agreed to take. But he refused to protect the vote by international troops. Despite threats and violence, 78.5% of East Timorese opted for independence. Indonesian security forces and pro-Indonesian militias responded with Operation Donner , evicting most of the population from their homes, destroying infrastructure and killing 1,200 to 1,500 people. Finally, under a UN mandate, the international protection force INTERFET was deployed under Australian leadership to pacify the country. Indonesia withdrew and East Timor was granted independence on May 20, 2002 after three years of UN administration .

It was not possible to draw the border between Australia and East Timor under the international law of the sea along the center line because Australia withdrew from the treaty in March. The two countries therefore signed the Timor Sea Treaty on Independence Day , which guaranteed East Timor 90% of the revenues from the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA). The question of the final demarcation remained open. This also applied to 80% of the profitable Great Sunrise gas field . The Treaty on Certain Maritime Arrangements in the Timor Sea (CMATS) was intended to remedy this shortcoming, as the Australian government insisted in May 2004 on the validity of the old treaties. East Timor accused Australia of withholding a million US dollars in license income every day by drawing the border from East Timor . With the CMATS of January 12, 2006 a 50/50 division of the income from the gas field was agreed. The other areas west and east of the JPDA, which would actually belong to the exclusive economic zone of East Timor, were initially left to exploitation by Australia. A 50-year moratorium on the maritime border was agreed without East Timor waiving its claims. Both countries ratified the agreement in 2007.

Becoming aware of the espionage campaign

Senator Nick Xenophon (right) with Bernard Collaery (center) and his lawyer Nicholas Cowdery (left) call for the formation of a Royal Commission to resolve the wiretapping scandal (November 2015).

On April 23, 2013, the East Timorese government officially declared the CMATS to be invalid, invoking a clause in the Timor Sea Treaty. East Timor accused Australia of wiretapping East Timorese in Australian hotels and government offices in East Timor. The office of the East Timorese Prime Minister and the cabinet room had also been bugged. Australian agents had misplaced the listening devices while disguised as development workers renovating the premises. On May 3, the Australian government confirmed receipt of the statement and the Australian media covered the allegations. East Timor called the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague .

On December 3, 2013, a few days before the start of the trial in The Hague, the Australian domestic intelligence ASIO (searched Australian Security Intelligence Organization ) the accommodation of working for East Timor lawyer Bernard Collaery in Canberra and the Whistleblowers Witness K . Documents and data carriers were confiscated; Witness K was temporarily arrested and his passport confiscated. He actually wanted to appear as an important witness at the trial in The Hague. He said he made the decision after learning that after leaving Parliament , former Australian Foreign Secretary Alexander Downer , who was responsible for espionage , was taking on a paid consulting position at Woodside Petroleum , the Australian company that Wanted to produce oil in the Timor Sea. Australia's Attorney General George Brandis said the searches were only intended to protect Australia's national security , not undermine legal claims. East Timor's government protested violently against the action, but Australian Justice Minister Michael Keenan and Prime Minister Tony Abbott also invoked the “legitimate interests of Australian national security”.

On December 17, 2013, East Timor sued Australia in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On March 3, 2014, the latter ordered Australia to stop espionage against East Timor. Communication between East Timor and its legal advisers should not be disturbed. Australia was allowed to keep the seized documents until the end of the hearing, but was not allowed to evaluate them or use them against East Timor. On June 3, 2015, Australia returned the documents confiscated from the lawyer to East Timor.

Witness K and Collaery charged

On June 28, 2018, it was announced that Australian prosecutors would indict Witness K and his attorney, Collaery, of violating the Intelligence Services Act for sharing information about the ASIS action. East Timor has called for the two men to be stopped immediately, which opened on September 12 in the Magistrates Court of the Australian Capital Territory in Canberra . The negotiations take place in camera. In 2019, Witness K's attorney announced that his client might plead guilty. The procedure continues (as of July 12, 2020).

consequences

September 1, 2019:
Prime Ministers Scott Morrison and Taur Matan Ruak exchange ratified treaties in a ceremony in Dili .

A commission under the Convention on the Law of the Sea decided that Australia had to start new negotiations to end the border dispute. In 2017 the CMTAS was finally declared dissolved by both sides. A new contract was signed in 2018 and took effect in 2019. The maritime border between the two states has since run along the center line. 100% of the income from the Bayu Undan field and the currently closed Kitan field will now go to East Timor. Australia waives claims to this sea area. The more than two billion US dollars that Australia has already earned from the two fields will not be repaid to East Timor. In the east, the maritime border divides the Sunrise Field, whose income is further shared.

rating

"Hands off Timor's Oil!" ( Brisbane 2017)

ABCnews came to the conclusion in a fact check that wiretapping was one of the legitimate tasks of the Australian secret service, regardless of the question of morality. Even The Australian called it an object of the Australian intelligence services to protect the interests of the country. The East Timorese non-governmental organization La'o Hamutuk compared this justification with similar justifications for combat drone operations to liquidate terrorists, the prison camp in Guantanamo and the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. A commentator for the Australian newspaper The Age called Australia's actions a breach of international law in a long tradition of wrongdoing towards the neighbor. Something similar was said in The Sydney Morning Herald . The Australian agents' disguise as aid workers was "poor" for The Age .

In the Australian Senate , there were very different assessments of the action. Ultimately, with its ruling, the International Court of Justice prohibited further intelligence action by Australia in the case. In addition to anti-Australian demonstrations in Dili , Australian activists also protested on the streets against the behavior of their government and for the termination of the case against Witness K and Collaery.

Independent Australian MP Andrew Wilkie called the charges against Witness K and Collaery a “crazy development” worthy of a “pre-police state”. Criticism came from Human Rights Watch , among others . On September 18, Julian Hill became the first Labor MP to raise concerns about the case, as did MPs Warren Snowden and Luke Gosling and independent Senator Rex Patrick .

The Australian Lawyers Alliance presented Bernard Collaery with the Civil Justice Award in 2018. The Australian online magazine Crikey named Collaery and Witness K their 2018 Person (s) of the Year.

See also

Documentaries

  • Bernard Collaery: Oil Under Troubled Water: Australia's Timor Sea Intrigue (2020).
  • Amanda King : Time to Draw the Line (2017).

literature

  • Kim McGrath: Crossing the Line: Australia's Secret History in the Timor Sea , 2017.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c The View from LL2: Google Earth Map for the Timor Sea Maritime Boundary Dispute , March 17, 2014
  2. ↑ The Guardian: Timor-Leste: court upholds Australian government refusal to release documents on Indonesia's invasion , July 3, 2020 , accessed July 12, 2020.
  3. ^ Government of Timor-Leste: Australia changes position on maritime boundaries , June 5, 2014 , accessed July 1, 2014.
  4. ↑ a b c d Newmatilda.com: Stop Spying On Timor, Court Tells Australia , March 5, 2014 , accessed March 24, 2014.
  5. ↑ 12th anniversary of Australia's withdrawal from the International Court of Justice on maritime boundary matters ( Memento of March 25, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Timor Sea Treaty between the Government of East Timor and the Government of Australia . In: Australasian Legal Information Institute - Australian Treaty Series . 2003. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  7. ^ Jesuit Social Justice Center: Closing the Timor Gap Fairly and in a Timely Manner ( Memento of April 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) September 3, 2004.
  8. ↑ La'o Hamutuk Bulletin Vol. 7, No. April 1, 2006 - The CMATS Treaty
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g La'o Hamutuk: 2016-2020: Australia Prosecutes Bernard Collaery and Witness K , accessed July 12, 20204.
  10. ↑ The Guardian: Witness K and the 'outrageous' spy scandal that failed to shame Australia , August 9, 2019 , accessed July 12, 2020.
  11. ↑ ABC: Australia's unscrupulous pursuit of East Timor's oil needs to stop , January 21, 2014 , accessed July 12, 2020.
  12. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald: Australia's unscrupulous pursuit of East Timor's oil needs to stop , January 11, 2017 , accessed July 12, 2020.
  13. ↑ a b c Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Australian bugs in Dili , December 7, 2013 , accessed on December 16, 2013.
  14. ↑ The Age: ASIO raids: Australia accuses East Timor of 'frankly, offensive' remarks , January 21, 2014 , accessed March 24, 2014.
  15. ↑ Australian Financial Review: East Timor PM: raid 'unacceptable' , December 4, 2013 , accessed December 16, 2013.
  16. ↑ ABCnews: East Timor spying case: PM Xanana Gusmao calls for Australia to explain itself over ASIO raids , December 5, 2013 , accessed December 16, 2013.
  17. ↑ East Timor’s Government website: Statement by His Excellency the Prime Minister, Kay Rala Xanana Gusmão , December 4, 2013 , accessed December 16, 2013.
  18. ↑ Netzpolitik.org: Industrial espionage: Australian intelligence services fight over billions in gas field , December 4, 2013 , accessed on December 16, 2013.
  19. ↑ Tom Allard: George Brandis hands over to East Timor docs seized by ASIO , Sydney Morning Herald, May 3, 2015 , accessed May 9, 2015.
  20. ↑ Patrick Zoll: Öl, Gas und Espionage , NZZ, August 30, 2016 , accessed on August 31, 2016.
  21. ^ Western Advocate: Hero's welcome for Timor border negotiator , March 12, 2018 , accessed March 18, 2018.
  22. ↑ La'o Hamutuk: Information about Treaties between Australia and Timor-Leste Goodbye CMATS, welcome Maritime Boundaries , accessed March 18, 2018.
  23. ↑ ABCnews: Would spying on East Timor by the Australian Secret Intelligence Service be illegal? , December 4, 2013 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  24. ↑ The Australian: Read Timor forget, we have our national interests too , December 5, 2013 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  25. ↑ The Age: Stoush over alleged Australian spying on East Timor has a long history , December 6, 2013 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  26. ↑ The Sydney Morning Herald: Richard Ackland: Term 'in national interest' misused as cover forspooky behavior , December 6, 2013 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  27. ↑ The Age: Eroding the propriety of the deal Timor , December 11, 2013 , accessed at La'o Hamutuk July 12 2020th
  28. ↑ Australian Senate: Hansard December 4, 2013 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  29. ↑ Australian House of Representatives: Hansard THURSDAY, 28 JUNE 2018 , accessed from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  30. ↑ HRW: Australia: Don't prosecute exposure misconduct , July 23, 2018 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  31. ^ The Riot Act: Bernard Collaery wins Civil Justice Award for East Timor wor , October 23, 2018 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.
  32. ↑ Crikey: And the 2018 Preson of the Year is ... December 19, 2018 , retrieved from La'o Hamutuk on July 12, 2020.