Arabic version: اعتقال أكثر الجنود الأستراليين تزيينًا بتهم جرائم حرب

Ben Roberts-Smith, Australia’s most-decorated living soldier, has been arrested at Sydney airport and is due to face court on Tuesday over allegations of war crimes committed during his service in Afghanistan. The former SAS corporal and Victoria Cross recipient is charged with five counts of the war crime of murder, stemming from incidents involving unarmed Afghan detainees between 2009 and 2012.

According to BBC News, a 2023 defamation judgment found that Roberts-Smith had unlawfully killed several unarmed Afghans. He has consistently denied all wrongdoing, labeling the allegations against him as “egregious” and “spiteful.”

The civil trial marked a historic moment as it was the first instance a court examined claims of war crimes by Australian forces. Roberts-Smith argued that the alleged killings were either legally justified during combat or did not occur at all. He lost an appeal against the Federal Court’s finding last year.

Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Krissy Barrett confirmed the arrest, stating that the victims were allegedly shot either by Roberts-Smith himself or by subordinate members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) under his orders. The arrest follows the findings of the Brereton Report, which indicated credible evidence that elite Australian soldiers had unlawfully killed 39 individuals in Afghanistan.

The Office of the Special Investigator (OSI), which was established to pursue these allegations, has only charged one other individual so far. Ross Barnett, the OSI’s director of investigations, described Roberts-Smith’s arrest as a significant step, noting the complexities involved in investigating such cases from thousands of kilometers away. Barrett emphasized that the misconduct allegations pertain to a small segment of the ADF, highlighting the overall integrity of the majority of Australian soldiers.