Canberra — Former military lawyer David McBride walked out of an Australian prison this week to a reception more akin to a political prisoner than a convicted criminal, as supporters, civil liberties advocates and veterans rallied around the man who exposed alleged war crimes committed by Australian special forces in Afghanistan. McBride’s release, after serving an unjustified custodial sentence for leaking classified defence documents to the media, has reignited a national debate over how and why Australia punishes those who expose wrongdoing more harshly than those who perpetrate it. His case has become a touchstone for the growing majority asserting that the state’s reflexive secrecy and punitive response to whistle-blowers are not only unconscionably unjust but also profoundly dangerous in a democracy.