Mr Hanifa,who told the court he cultivated wheat,corn,kidney beans and tomatoes,said that on the day of Ali Jan’s death foreign soldiers arrived by helicopter in the village of Darwan.
The court heard the three men were questioned by an interpreter travelling with the soldiers about whether they had links to the Taliban. Mr Hanifa said one soldier took his head and hit it into a wall,before a pistol was held to his throat and head.
“By God,by God,he had nothing with him. By God,they put that equipment with him.”
Mohammed Hanifa
Mr Hanifa said he was told by the interpreter:“You are a Talib. I shot your father. Show me[Taliban insurgent] Hekmatullah,otherwise,I will shoot you in your head.”
One “big soldier” had “blue eyes,like,kind of brownish” and was wearing a uniform that was wet and sandy until about his chest area,Mr Hanifa said. The court has previously heard evidence that the two-metre-tall Mr Roberts-Smith waded into the Helmand River on the same day in pursuit of Hekmatullah.
Mr Hanifa said he was punched “many times” by the big soldier,who told him not to look at the interpreter.
Mr Hanifa said he warned Ali Jan not to smile or laugh around the soldiers but a handcuffed Ali Jan smiled after the big soldier said something to him. The soldier kicked him “really hard”,sending him “rolling down” a cliff as the soldier looked on.
“At this time,I really got scared,” Mr Hanifa said.
He said the big soldier then shouted something,and he heard the sound of a shot. The big soldier then “disappeared” and he saw other soldiers drag Ali Jan to a berry tree before he heard more shots.
Mr Roberts-Smith has denied kicking any prisoner off a cliff and has told the court that he believed a man matching Ali Jan’s description was a “spotter” for the Taliban insurgency who was hiding in a cornfield.
According to the rules of engagement under which Australian troops operated in Afghanistan,a person under the control of Australian troops cannot be killed,and to kill a person in these circumstances is murder.
Mr Roberts-Smith told the court last month thatanother soldier,known as Person 11,had spotted the suspected Taliban spotter and started firing,before he fired from behind his comrade. The man had “fallen”,Mr Roberts-Smith said at the time,and he believed Person 11 fired further rounds. The decorated soldier said he recalled seeing a radio known as an ICOM on the man’s body.
Asked by Mr Owens last month if he had heard “rumours of patrols in the SAS using throwdowns”,the alleged practice of planting weapons or objects such as radios on a body to justify a killing,Mr Roberts-Smith said:“No.”
On Monday,Mr Owens asked Mr Hanifa if Ali Jan was carrying a radio that day.
“By God,by God,he had nothing with him. By God,they put that equipment with him,” an agitated Mr Hanifa said.
As he looked at a photo of his step-uncle’s body,he said:“These other things,the bag and the other device ... they were not there. They have put these things on his body.”
Asked if he had ever seen Ali Jan carry a radio,Mr Hanifa insisted “he was busy with his own work” and “I haven’t seen nothing with him. Nothing.”
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Under cross-examination by Mr Roberts-Smith’s barrister,Bruce McClintock,SC,Mr Hanifa agreed that he did not see any shots fired,but said that he had heard shots. Mr McClintock put it to him that he was lying when he said he saw Ali Jan taken to a berry tree after he was allegedly kicked off the cliff.
“I told you that I saw Ali Jan being dragged to those trees. After that,I didn’t see him. Shots were fired. Whether you consider this a lie or a truth,that’s up to you,” he replied. “I didn’t say that the big soldier fired shots.”
Mr Hanifa will continue giving evidence on Tuesday.
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