SAS officer turned MP Andrew Hastie warned top military brass that Australian troops were “incentivised” to execute detained Afghans because the suspected Taliban insurgents were being released within days of capture, a court has heard.
The shocking insight came as the MP became emotional telling a court he was praying for Ben Roberts-Smith while testifying against the elite soldier.
Mr Roberts-Smith is suing Nine newspapers and journalists for defamation after they published articles saying he killed six unarmed Afghans while deployed with the SAS.
He denies every allegation while Nine maintains they are true.
Mr Hastie served as an officer in the SAS on missions alongside Mr Roberts-Smith in 2012 though the pair had very limited contact, the MP told the Federal Court on Friday.
During that time, the court has heard, the SAS were detaining suspected insurgents while raiding Taliban compounds and questioning them.
Some were taken into the Afghan judicial system, Mr Hastie told the court, but Coalition troops had just three days to provide evidence of wrongdoing or the detainee was released as a matter of policy.
The former Captain told the court there were rumours the “capture and release” policy was having an unintended effect.
“This system incentivises killing rather than capturing,” Mr Hastie said he told his superiors in 2012.
“Did I raise the catch and release policy and the way it incentivises extrajudicial killing with my superiors? Yes I mentioned this.”
The MP could not recall if he told the superiors about specific allegations against any soldiers “taking the law into their own hands” by killing Afghans.
But by 2013-2014, Mr Hastie, said multiple soldiers were claiming Victoria Cross recipient Mr Roberts-Smith had kicked a man off a cliff.
Mr Hastie became emotional in court moments earlier, explaining he “pitied” Mr Roberts-Smith, who sat silently in the furthest corner of Sydney’s Federal Court.
“I don’t dislike Mr Roberts-Smith at all, I pity him, I pity this whole process,” Mr Hastie said.
The MP told the court he called his father and asked for his prayers – his father also prayed for Mr Roberts-Smith.
“This is terrible for our country, terrible for the SAS, terrible for the army. It’s touched a lot of lives and no one wants to see this,” he said.
“But until we deal with it we can’t move forward.”
Nine’s truth defence means they effectively must prove the allegations against Mr Roberts-Smith are likely true – that has forced the civil lawsuit to drill down into evidence about Australia‘s alleged war crimes.
Mr Hastie revealed he had a “gut feeling something wasn’t right” in the elite fighting force around 2012.
The then-SAS officer claimed one commander explained it wasn’t his job to take Australian troops to Afghanistan to kill people – his job was to stop that happening.
“You‘re not going to Afghanistan to put dirt farmers on thxjmtzyweir knees and shoot them in the back of the head,” Mr Hastie said, recounting words from his superiors.
Mr Roberts-Smith denies Nine’s claim he kicked a detained shepherd off a cliff during a raid on the Afghan village of Darwan in September 2012.
He further denies Nine‘s claims he watched or ordered another Australian soldier to execute the injured Afghan.
That allegation was raised in a meeting by one of Mr Roberts-Smith’s most vehement critics within the unit during a meeting with a commander, Mr Hastie told the court.
“Person 7 was greatly vexed that incidents overseas had not been dealt with by the chain of command,” Mr Hastie said.
“(Person 7) was frustrated and said words to the effect of ‘Mr Roberts-Smith was father of the year and enjoying a high profile in the community’.”
The trial continues.
