No pardon for Breaker Morant

CANBERRA, Australia, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- There will be no royal pardon for Harry "Breaker" Morant, the legendary Australian poet and soldier executed more than 100 years ago for murder, officials said.

The British government late last month said there was no new evidence in the case of Morant to move the appeal for a pardon forward, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. Australian military lawyer Cmdr. James Unkles had petitioned the queen for a royal pardon for Morant.

The legendary drover, horseman, poet, soldier and womanizer was executed by a British military firing squad in 1902. It remains one of the most controversial events in Australia's military history.

Morant and two other Australian soldiers were accused of murdering Boer prisoners during the Boer War in South Africa. Morant and Peter Handcock were executed while a third man was acquitted after serving several years in jail.

Many have held that Morant and the others were only following orders from their British superiors or were not involved in the killings at all. Unkles said the review of the case, which was carried out by British Defense Secretary Liam Fox, was conducted in secrecy.

"This case seems to have a history from its very inception of running in secret and without involvement or exposure to the public and that's how the trials were conducted in 1902," Unkles told the ABC. "The internal processes and workings of the British government seem to be replicating what happened 108 years ago.

"I've examined the written notice that (Fox) has given the Australian attorney general and I still think the British are hiding something. They don't want to bring this case out into the public."

In the century since his death, Morant has become a folk hero in Australia.