Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission Friday demanded the UKopen an independent public inquiry to investigate the alleged unlawfulkillings by Brittan’s special forces in the war-ridden country.
Against the backdrop of recent revelation of Australian forces’ involvementin killing of at least 39 Afghan civilians, the AIHRC made this call,claiming its documented reports suggest other foreign military missions toohave committed violations of the International Human Rights Laws and Law ofArmed Conflict.
“The AIHRC calls on the U.S and UK, and other countries with an armedpresence in Afghanistan to respond to these media reports, and toinvestigate their forces’ participation, and leadership, of acts ofviolence against Afghan non-combatants, including detainees and civilians,”it said in a statement.
The rights group welcomed the Australian government’s move seeking anapology from the Afghan government and people.
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It said the Australian government, now and in the future, must commit tolistening to Afghan victims’ demands for truth and justice.
*UK making prosecution ‘impossible’*
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A BBC Panorama program in 2019 reported that a Royal Military Police (RMP)investigation found dozens of suspicious killings by the UK Special Forceson night raids. It said in one case, the RMP had even brought chargesagainst members of the UK Special Forces for murder, falsifying a reportand perverting the course of justice.
In an Aug. 2020 article, Clive Baldwin, the Human Rights Watch’s seniorlegal advisor, charged that the UK government is doing its best to ensureit is almost impossible to prosecute such crimes.
He claimed evidence has continued to emerge in the UK court hearings andpublic inquiries of abuses, such as torture, by UK soldiers in Iraq andAfghanistan that appear on their face to be war crimes.
“Successive British governments have repeatedly interfered in criminaljustice, most blatantly by ministers shutting down criminal inquiries intoUK forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The current government is going evenfurther, having a draft law before parliament creating a “presumptionagainst prosecution” for alleged crimes committed by UK soldiers overseasmore than five years ago. Rather than ensure justice for crimes like thosealleged in Afghanistan, it would make it even harder to prosecute, evenwhen the evidence had been withheld for so long.”
