His brother’s leg became a grisly trophy. Now, he wants justice

The families of two Afghans allegedly executed on the orders of Ben Roberts-Smith have welcomed the criminal charges but criticised the years-long delay in bringing the famous soldier to justice.

Australian filmmaker Pete Williams visited southern Afghanistan late last year and spoke with the family of the two allegedly murdered men.

On Tuesday, just hours after the Australian Federal Police announced Roberts-Smith’s five charges of war crime – murder, Williams contacted the son and brother of the two men who prosecutors will claim were summarily executed.

Esmatullah is the brother of a disabled man with a prosthetic leg Ahmadullah, who was allegedly machine-gunned in the back by Roberts-Smith, and the son of Mohammad Essa, who was allegedly executed on Roberts-Smith’s orders, both in 2009. The leg was photographed being used as a trophy to drink alcohol from.

Speaking via a translator, Esmatullah said he welcomed the news.

“He said he was very, very happy, and he wants to know what’s next,” Williams said.

Esmatullah, and the family members of Ali Jan, who was allegedly executed in 2012 on Roberts-Smith’s order, expressed concern to Williams late last year at the time it had taken for charges to be brought.

“They were very frustrated, they were angry, and they lost faith in the Australian justice system,” Williams said.

In the unsuccessful defamation case brought against this masthead, Ben Roberts-Smith claimed Ali Jan and the three other victims were all armed combatants killed during the heat of battle. Roberts-Smith has always denied any wrongdoing, and it is anticipated that he will fight criminal charges.

In Australia, the news of the arrests has brought back traumatic memories and mixed emotions among the Afghan diaspora.

Tahera Nassrat, who fled Afghanistan in 1998, said the initial reports of Roberts-Smith’s alleged crimes had shaken her sense of security.

Nassrat had been working with Medecins Sans Frontieres when the Taliban attacked the city she was in. She now lives in Sydney, is the founder of the Afghan Peace Foundation and a Refugee Council of Australia ambassador.

As a young girl in the war-torn country, Nassrat said she was taught to trust soldiers as they had a duty to protect civilians.

“We put our trust in them, and we put our lives in their hands, and we run to them for safety,” she said.

The allegations, she said, shook that perception of safety, but the news of Roberts-Smith’s arrest was the first step toward rebuilding trust between civilians and soldiers.

“Many Afghans have felt invisible and unheard for a long time, but this development offers a sense of recognition and a hope that justice is still possible,” she said.

She said soldiers had a duty to protect civilians and to act with humanity, discipline, and respect, and that the arrest meant if rules were broken, consequences would follow “regardless of a person’s status or reputation”.

“It sends a clear message to Afghan Australians that while it took a while, justice is there and the truth always comes first. It sends the message that their life matters and their suffering has not been completely forgotten.”

Senior member of the Afghan expat community Khalil Nasri said there was a mixed response among the diaspora. While some celebrated that Australia pursued justice, others questioned the focus on one soldier while the Taliban remained in power.

“The fact that the relevant authorities have decided to bring this charge on their most highly decorated soldier is a sign Australia upholds the rule of law, and applies it to its most honoured soldier,” he said.

Nasri said some believed it set a “great example,” particularly in a climate where political leaders threaten to annihilate civilians, including US President Donald Trump’s threat to Iran on Tuesday AEST that a “whole civilisation will die”. A ceasefire has since been announced.

Others believed, however, that there was a misdirected focus on one soldier while a former terror group was in power. He said this was most common among those who had arrived since the Taliban seized power in 2021, and among women.

“For all the women who can’t go to school or university, to people whose families are being tortured and have lost members due to the Taliban, those people [ask] … why is the focus on one individual when the whole country is being held hostage?” he said.

“Why is the Australian government willing to spend so much money, time and effort to prove something that happened in the heat of war?”

Others who were more aligned with or sympathetic to the Taliban rejoiced at the idea. “Their view is, ‘let’s punish Westerners who invaded and bombed’,” he said.

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