Australia said its special forces were suspected of being responsible for 39 unlawful killings in Afghanistan, as it released a long-awaited report into alleged war crimes committed in the country.
Australia launched the inquiry in 2016, amid reports from whistle-blowers and in the local media of the alleged killing of unarmed men and children that the government initially tried to suppress.
Detailing the findings, General Angus Campbell, chief of the Defence Force, said the investigation found evidence that members of the Australian special forces had killed prisoners, farmers or other civilians, and offered his unreserved apologies to the people of Afghanistan for any wrongdoing.
The report “found there to be credible information to substantiate 23 incidents of alleged unlawful killing of 39 people by 25 Australian special forces personnel predominantly from the Special Air Service Regiment,” Campbell told reporters.
James Gaynor - inspector general of the Australian Defence Force - said there were additional allegations that members of the Australian military had treated people under their control with cruelty.
“None of these alleged crimes was committed during the heat of battle,” he wrote. “The alleged victims were non-combatants or no longer combatants.”
The inquiry found the 23 incidents of unlawful killings would be “the war crime of murder” if accepted by a jury, and a further two incidents “the war crime of cruel treatment”. Some incidents involved a single victim, and others, multiple people, and took place between 2009 and 2013.
It also found that weapons had been planted on some of the victims, while junior soldiers were sometimes forced to shoot prisoners for a “first kill” as part of an initiation known as “blooding”.
A special investigator, who was appointed last week, will now determine whether there is sufficient evidence to move ahead with the prosecutions.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week warned the report would contain “difficult and hard news for Australians”.
The release of the report came after Morrison spoke with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani.
The Australian military was deployed alongside forces from the United States and other allies in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks.
In the years since, a series of often-harrowing reports have emerged about the conduct of its elite special forces units – ranging from a prisoner being shot dead to save space in a helicopter to the killing of a six-year-old child in a house raid.
“Afghans have waited many years for this report to come out. And they shouldn’t have to wait many years for justice,” Elaine Pearson, Australia director at the Human Rights Watch said, calling for “swift and independent prosecutions” for the “deliberate and cold-blooded killings”.
“The ICC is a court of last resort. Australia does have the rule of law and so these cases should come to Australian courts. People should be investigated and held to account,” said Pearson.
The US is also under investigation for possible war crimes in Afghanistan after the ICC authorised an investigation earlier this year.
Darul Ihsan Media Desk