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Two witnesses say 'big soldier' kicked man

Sam McKeithAAP
An Afghan farmer has denied lying about a "big soldier" at Ben Roberts-Smith's defamation trial.
Camera IconAn Afghan farmer has denied lying about a "big soldier" at Ben Roberts-Smith's defamation trial. Credit: AAP

A second Afghan farmer who claims he saw a big soldier kick villager Ali Jan down into a river bed in an SAS raid has denied that his evidence is a "complete fabrication".

Shahzad Aka, 70, from Darwan in Uruzgan province, is the third Afghan to give evidence at Ben Roberts-Smith's defamation trial via audio-visual link from Kabul about the SAS mission on September 11, 2012, in which Ali Jan was killed.

The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times claim Ali Jan was handcuffed and kicked off a cliff at Darwan while Mr Roberts-Smith, 42, says the man was a Taliban spotter shot in a cornfield.

On Friday afternoon Mr Shahzad, Ali Jan's brother-in-law, was challenged by the war hero's barrister Bruce McClintock SC about his version of the controversial mission.

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The witness rejected Mr McClintock's assertion that his account was a "complete fabrication" saying: "No I haven't made it up, I haven't said one thing wrong".

"I will not lie to you even once, I will not lie to you," Mr Shahzad told the barrister via a Pashto interpreter.

Concerning the events of the day, Mr Shahzad said soldiers arrived in the village by helicopter and that he later saw Ali Jan and another villager, the witness's son Mohammed Hanifa, sitting near a wall with their hands tied.

Mr Shahzad told the Federal Court that the big soldier then made Ali Jan stand.

"I saw Ali Jan, Ali Jan's hands were tied up, they made him stand up, Ali Jan was facing the soldier, then the soldier kicked him and he went down."

"Where did he go down?" the newspapers' barrister Nicholas Owens SC asked.

"He fell down ... maybe you call it a river, he fell down there," the witness replied.

Mr Shahzad also said of the alleged incident: "He fell down, then because of the berry tree I could not see him anymore".

Mr Hanifa testified earlier this week that he too saw Ali Jan kicked into a river bed by a big soldier, then saw Ali Jan dragged to a berry tree.

After the alleged kick, Mr Shahzad told the court he saw the big soldier go down a path before disappearing from his view.

The witness said afterwards he saw Ali Jan's body in a cornfield with bullet wounds to his jaw, chest and arm and with dust on his face.

Challenged by Mr McClintock about his ability to see a human face from 250 or 300 metres away through trees and given his poor eyesight, Mr Shahzad said: "They were sitting there ... this is my area, I know the area".

Earlier, Mr Shahzad was shown two photos of a dead body in a field that he said were of Ali Jan but said a "wireless device" had been put on his chest.

"The wireless device was not there," he said.

Mr Shahzad told the court that Ali Jan was not connected to the Taliban but was a married man who lived in the mountains, kept goats and sold timber.

Also on Friday, Man Gul, another Darwan local, rejected suggestions from Mr McClintock that he didn't see a big soldier during the raid.

The witness has previously testified that while handcuffed during the raid he was hit twice by a big soldier.

"I saw him," Mr Gul said.

Earlier this week, Mr Gul testified that in the raid he asked Mr Hanifa about Ali Jan's whereabouts and that Mr Hanifa told him Ali Jan was kicked "and went down to the river".

Mr Gul said he later went to the river bed and saw blood, then walked near to a berry tree where Ali Jan was on his back dead with gunshot wounds to the jaw and skull.

He told the court that a small group of villagers then cleaned Ali Jan's face of dust, brought him under the shade of the tree, then put a shawl over his body.

Mr Gul described Ali Jan as a labourer who kept animals and sold wood, and was not a Taliban.

Mr Hanifa, the first Afghan witness to testify this week, also denied Ali Jan had Taliban links.

The trial temporarily resumed this week amid Sydney's COVID-19 lockdown to take evidence from the Afghans as the security situation in Kabul deteriorates.

Justice Anthony Besanko adjourned the trial to Monday for case management.

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