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Afghan witness 'unaware' killer at village

Sam McKeithAAP
The court has released photos of Darwan including the area an unlawful killing allegedly took place.
Camera IconThe court has released photos of Darwan including the area an unlawful killing allegedly took place. Credit: AAP

An Afghan villager testifying at Ben Roberts-Smith's defamation trial has denied knowing that rogue soldier Hekmatullah was at Darwan before the village was raided by the SAS in September 2012.

Mohammed Hanifa Fatih is testifying via audio-visual link from Kabul at Ben Roberts-Smith's defamation trial in the Federal Court in Sydney about what occurred during the controversial raid on the Uruzgan province village in September 2012.

A key claim in allegedly defamatory media reports at the centre of the lawsuit is that Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a farmer named Ali Jan off a small cliff during the SAS operation.

Mr Roberts-Smith denies all claims against him and says Ali Jan was a Taliban spotter.

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Mr Hanifa, in his second day of evidence, said on Tuesday he knew Hekmatullah had killed Australian soldiers but denied knowing the rogue operator was at Darwan before the SAS raid on September 12.

"No I was not aware," he told the court via a Pashto interpreter.

The trial has previously heard that the SAS mission in Darwan was part of a search for Hekmatullah, who had killed three Australian soldiers in the previous days.

The court heard that there were three raids on Darwan in the months before the SAS raid on September 11 and that the village was a Taliban "stronghold".

It was told that four people were killed in the raid including a Taliban fighter who was armed with a Kalashnikov rifle, ammunition and a walkie-talkie.

In cross-examination, Mr Hanifa rejected that one of his brothers, now deceased, was a Taliban member, telling the court he was killed in a dispute with a cousin.

"Was he a member of the Taliban?" the applicant's barrister, Bruce McClintock SC, asked.

"No he was not," the witness replied.

He also denied lying to the court about being shot at by soldiers in the SAS raid, how many helicopters were there, or seeing a dog with the soldiers.

The villager rejected Mr McClintock's submission that it was "completely untrue" that he saw a big soldier with a wet uniform during the raid.

"Whether you call it a lie it's up to you," he said.

However, Mr Hanifa agreed with the barrister that he viewed foreign soldiers as "infidel soldiers" and those killed by them as "martyrs".

"If they are coming to our houses, go inside to our women, of course that's what we call them infidels," he said.

"You hate them, don't you?" Mr McClintock asked the witness.

"No I don't like them," Mr Hanifa replied.

Also on Tuesday, the court released high-resolution photos of Darwan village including the area from which the respondents claim the unlawful killing took place.

Mr Hanifa told the court on Monday that he saw a big soldier kick Ali Jan into a river bed and that two soldiers then dragged him to a berry tree.

He also gave evidence that he later saw Ali Jan's body with gunshot wounds.

Mr Hanifa has testified that Ali Jan was not a Taliban but was a farmer who wanted to protect his family and property.

The trial continues before Justice Anthony Besanko.

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