On the outskirts of Tarin Kowt, Australia’s base for a lot of its 20-year navy operation in opposition to the Taliban in Afghanistan, lies Sola.
It’s a quiet little village, a jumble of laneways, mud brick huts and fields.
On the night of 31 August 2012, night prayers have been interrupted by the sound of Australian helicopters and vehicles, carrying troopers from Australia’s elite Particular Air Service (SAS), together with now-disgraced Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith.
Ben Roberts-Smith was one of many shooters in Sola, through the hunt for Hekmatullah. His attorneys have beforehand acknowledged that he has at all times adopted the foundations of engagement. Supply: Getty / Stefan Postles
They have been looking a rogue Afghan soldier who, two days earlier, had murdered three Australian troopers.
Quickly after the SAS troopers’ arrival in Sola, the village’s aged imam and his grownup son have been shot useless.
Locals say it was an execution, however an Australian Defence Pressure (ADF) investigation discovered the killings have been justified.
Dateline journalists are the primary Australian reporters to go to Sola and straight converse to witnesses in quest of solutions.
The village of Sola, situated close to the bottom at Tarin Kowt the place three Australian troopers have been murdered. Supply: SBS / Colin Cosier
The witness
Haji Gul Mohammad, a farmer and village elder, will always remember that evening.
He invited me to sit down with him and drink tea, as he started to inform his story.
“We have been praying evening prayers when the Australian forces arrived,” he defined in Pashto.
Gul Mohammad (centre), a farmer from Sola, witnessed the occasions main as much as the killings of the native imam and his grownup son. Supply: SBS / Colin Cosier
Raz Mohammad was the imam, who led prayers on a patch of naked floor outdoors the straightforward mosque.
Gul Mohammad wished to indicate it to us and led me down a dusty path to the scene of first contact with the Australian troopers.
He defined the place the imam was; dealing with the entrance of the mosque, with different worshippers in a line behind him. Pointing to both facet of the constructing, he mentioned the troopers got here from all instructions.
I requested him if he remembered what they regarded like. He pointed again at me and instructed our interpreter: “They regarded like him. All of them have been tall.”
“They handcuffed our arms behind our backs, lined our eyes after which took us by the arms to the yard.”
It was there the imam was killed.
For the reason that males have been blindfolded, none noticed the killing, they solely heard it.
Beneath the Geneva Conference, it’s a conflict crime to hurt an unarmed detainee or particular person beneath management.
The courtyard
Haji Gul Mohammad heard gunfire and when Australian troopers had left the village he discovered the imam useless. Supply: SBS / Colin Cosier
“We heard gunfire whereas we have been blindfolded. When the Australian forces left the realm, we found Raz Mohammad had been shot,” Gul Mohammad mentioned.
He alleged the imam was shot 3 times.
“He was not a member of the Taliban and had nothing to do with the Taliban,” he insisted.
“He was merely the imam of our mosque and likewise labored as a carpenter.”
The son
The imam was not the one particular person killed that evening.
Mullah Jalil was the imam’s grownup son.
His physique was discovered within the laneway that leads in direction of the mosque. He had not been detained with the older males.
When the Australian troopers entered the village, locals have been instructed to remain inside.
It meant nobody witnessed the taking pictures of Jalil.
However a number of folks noticed his physique as soon as the SAS troopers had left.
“He was sporting white garments which have been stained purple with blood,” one man instructed me.
“We didn’t see the accidents or the place he was shot.”
The hunt
The SAS troopers had come to the village of Sola in search of, or details about, a high-value goal; an Afghan Nationwide Military soldier named Hekmatullah
The raid on Sola was a part of the manhunt.
Gul Mohammad says he is aware of the story of Hekmatullah however denies the soldier was ever in Sola.
“No he was not on this village. He had no contact with anybody right here.”
Hekmatullah was an Afghan soldier who shot and killed three Australian troopers who have been taking part in playing cards. He escaped after the murders however was ultimately captured in 2013 and served 7 years behind bars.
The inquiry
A leaked 2012 ADF inquiry discovered the killings in Sola have been inside the guidelines of engagement.
It mentioned the imam was utilizing a radio and didn’t adjust to an order so was shot useless. It additionally acknowledged that his son Jalil tried to seize a soldier’s weapon.
It named one of many shooters of the imam as Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith.
Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith didn’t reply to Dateline’s questions. Supply: Getty / Sam Mooy
Final yr, the now-disgraced Victoria Cross winner was discovered by a federal court docket choose to have, on the steadiness of possibilities,
That civil defamation case didn’t relate to the killings in Sola.
Roberts-Smith denies any wrongdoing and is interesting the case. He has not been criminally charged. In relation to the deaths in Sola, his attorneys have beforehand acknowledged that he has at all times adopted the foundations of engagement.
However in Sola, Gul Mohammad denied the ADF’s account of what passed off.
“No, there was nothing. It’s a lie,” he instructed me.
“Whoever says this, if the troopers mentioned they’d one thing (a radio), they’d nothing.”
Dateline contacted the ADF and Roberts-Smith searching for a response to the allegations raised in this system.
Roberts-Smith didn’t reply and the ADF didn’t reply Dateline’s questions.
Ben Roberts-Smith outdoors the Federal Court docket in Sydney throughout his defamation trial in 2021. Supply: Getty / Sam Mooy
The investigation
In 2020 the Brereton report – the inquiry into allegations of misconduct by Australian troopers in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2016 – discovered credible proof that in 23 incidents, 39 Afghans had been unlawfully killed. While the findings of the report are public, particulars concerning the incidents have been redacted, so it isn’t recognized if the killings in Sola are amongst these advisable for investigation.
The Workplace of the Particular Investigator (OSI), is working with the Australian Federal Police to research these alleged conflict crimes.
However up to now, nobody from the OSI has been to Afghanistan to talk to witnesses or assess the areas the place killings passed off.
In response to questions from Dateline, the OSI mentioned: “investigations are capable of progress with out journey to Afghanistan”, which it considers “extraordinarily harmful”.
The OSI mentioned it now has 20 energetic investigations, eight fewer than in February when it reported to Senate Estimates.
It additionally mentioned the OSI stays “acutely aware of the significance of our work to Australia’s nationwide curiosity”.
Haji Gul Mohammad mentioned there are a number of witnesses to the occasions surrounding the shootings within the village. Supply: SBS / Colin Cosier
Gul Mohammad mentioned he’s ready to talk to Australian investigators if it helps the imam’s household search justice.
“I’ll testify that these folks have been martyred innocently.”
He pointed to the rising crowd round us.
“This man is a witness, that particular person is a witness and the opposite is a witness. On this village, you could find ten different witnesses.”
Earlier than we left, he had a query for me.
“Are the troopers who dedicated this crime, who martyred these two folks at present free or in jail?”
I instructed him they’re not in jail, nor have they been charged.
“They need to be tried,” he exclaimed, rising agitated.
“The troopers who dedicated atrocities are roaming free.”
“They need to be dragged to the worldwide courts.”
Gul Mohammad’s account of what occurred through the raid on the 31 August 2012 has not been examined in court docket.
