Australian special forces were allegedly involved in the murder of 39 Afghan civilians, in some cases executing prisoners to \u201cblood\u201d junior soldiers before inventing cover stories and planting weapons on corpses, a major report has found.<\/p>\n
For more than four years, the Maj Gen Justice Paul Brereton has investigated allegations that a small group within the elite Special Air Services and commandos regiments killed and brutalised Afghan civilians, in some cases allegedly slitting throats, gloating about their actions, keeping kill counts, and photographing bodies with planted phones and weapons to justify their actions.<\/p>\n
The findings of Brereton\u2019s report, released on Thursday, are confronting and damning.<\/p>\n
Brereton describes the special forces\u2019 actions as \u201cdisgraceful and a profound betrayal\u201d of the Australian Defence Force.<\/p>\n
The report found<\/p>\n
Special forces were responsible for dozens of unlawful killings, the vast majority of which involved prisoners, and were deliberately covered up.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
Thirty-nine Afghans were unlawfully killed in 23 incidents, either by special forces or at the instruction of special forces.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
None of the killings took place in the heat of battle, and they all occurred in circumstances which, if accepted by a jury, would constitute the war crime of murder.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
All the victims were either non-combatants or were no longer combatants.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
A total of 25 perpetrators have been identified either as principals or accessories. Some are still serving in the ADF.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
In all cases, the report finds it \u201cwas or should have been plain that the person killed was a non-combatant\u201d. The vast majority of victims had been captured and were under control, giving them the protection under international law.<\/p>\n
Patricia Gossman, senior researcher in Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, urged nations whose militaries have served as part of the US-led coalition in\u00a0Afghanistan<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 including America and Britain \u2014 to follow Australia\u2019s example and probe their own soldiers\u2019 conduct. \u201cIt was part of a sick culture that essentially treated Afghans living in these contested areas as if they were all dangerous criminals \u2014 even the children \u2014 or simply as not human,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Some of the incidents described in the report are deeply troubling. Evidence suggests junior soldiers were instructed by their superiors to execute prisoners in cold blood as part of a \u201cblooding\u201d process to give them their first kill.<\/p>\n