In September of 2012, Australian soldiers descended on the rural village of Darwan in Afghanistan, killing four men.

That raid and the events of that day were central to the defamation action brought by Ben Roberts-Smith. The court eventually found it was substantially true that he had committed war crimes – including kicking Ali Jan, an Afghan villager, off a cliff and ordering his execution.

Ben Roberts-Smith maintains his innocence, and the allegations have never been proven to a criminal standard.

But now, that’s about to be tested.

This week, Roberts-Smith was arrested and charged with five counts of war crime murder. One of those charges relates to the Darwan raid, making the killing of Ali Jan central to the criminal case ahead.

Ali Jan’s family are still waiting for justice and want to testify. But the agency leading Australia’s war crimes investigations is still refusing to take witness statements directly from Afghanistan.

Today, freelance journalist Michelle Dimasi, who travelled to Afghanistan to meet Ali Jan’s family, on what justice might still look like for them.

This episode first aired in November 2023.

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Guest: Freelance journalist covering Afghanistan and the Middle East, Michelle Dimasi

Photo: AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills

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