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Australia's most decorated war hero accused of complicity in two more murders in Afghanistan

Australian forces stand near locals at the opening of a Trade Training School - AP
Australian forces stand near locals at the opening of a Trade Training School - AP

Australia’s most decorated veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, has been accused of playing a role in another two murders of Afghan detainees.

The new claims were made on Tuesday by lawyers for Fairfax media defending a defamation lawsuit the former soldier brought against the company for its coverage of earlier allegations about his alleged role in the death of an unarmed and handcuffed Afghan man.

The Victoria Cross recipient is suing the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times for articles published in 2018, claiming their coverage depicted him as someone who “broke the moral and legal rules of military engagement”, according to his statement of claim.

The newspapers alleged that in 2012 the former SAS soldier kicked a handcuffed detainee, Ali Jan, off a cliff in Darwan, Uruzgan province, before the man was shot dead.

The articles claimed that subsequently Mr Roberts-Smith and another soldier conspired to conceal the murder by recording Mr Jan as an “enemy killed in action”.

Sandy Dawson SC, for Fairfax, told the Court on Tuesday that the news media company wishes to amend its previously filed defence by adding new allegations which relate to killings in two other Uruzgan villages, also in 2012.

Mr Dawson said information about one of the killings did not come to light until March this year when Australian Broadcasting Corporation program Four Corners aired a report on the war crimes allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith.

Representing the former solider, Bruce McClintock SC, argued against the amendments, claiming they would be prejudicial against his client.

“The enormous emotional stress my client has been facing is compounded by this new case and the changing the date of the one already alleged. The dates matter,” he said.

Mr Dawson suggested Fairfax’s claims about the murder of Ali Jan remained fundamentally consistent. “We have always alleged that Mr Roberts-Smith kicked Ali Jan off a cliff while he was a detainee - a handcuffed detainee. There were four witnesses to that allegation,“ he said.

Major General Paul Brereton, a judge of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, is currently conducting an inquiry into 55 matters related to alleged misconduct by Australian forces in Afghanistan.

In an earlier statement, issued in 2018, Mr Roberts-Smith described the Fairfax reports, which also included allegations of domestic violence, assault of an Afghan detainee in 2010, and bullying more junior soldiers, as “a catalogue of lies, fabrications and misrepresentations”.

“It is the culmination of many months of malicious and highly damaging allegations, all of which will be vigorously defended,” he wrote.