Australian authorities have arrested and charged the country’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, 47, with five war crime murders allegedly committed during the war in Afghanistan.

Roberts-Smith, a former member of the Australian Defence Force, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday. His arrest has sparked outcry from a former Australian prime minister, who argued its unfair to judge the actions of “men in mortal combat by the standards of ordinary civilian life.” X owner Elon Musk also weighed in on the arrest, calling it “insane.”

The Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator said Roberts-Smith is being charged in connection with the killings of five unarmed Afghans in three separate incidents between 2009 and 2012. AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett alleged that Roberts-Smith either killed the unarmed Afghans himself or instructed a subordinate to kill them. If convicted, Roberts-Smith faces life imprisonment on each charge.

“It will be alleged the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan,” Barrett said during a press conference. “It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed.”

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FILE – Ben Roberts-Smith arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney on June 9, 2021. Australia’s most decorated living war veteran lodged an appeal on Tuesday, July 11, 2023, against a civil court ruling that blamed him for the unlawful killings of four Afghans. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft, File) (Rick Rycroft/AP)

The investigation into Roberts-Smith began in 2021, according to Ross Barnett, director of investigations at the Office of the Special Investigator. Roberts-Smith received the Victoria Cross after storming two enemy machine guns during his fifth tour in Afghanistan.

Barnett said at the press conference that the investigation was “under challenging circumstances,” given that some of the murders occurred well over a decade ago and investigators were unable to visit Afghanistan.

“We don’t have access to the crime scenes, we don’t have photographs, site plans, measurements, the recovery of projectiles, blood spatter analysis, all of those things we would normally get at a crime scene,” Barnett said at the press conference.

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Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith VC, MG attends a Victoria Cross and George Cross Association Reunion Service at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Church on May 30, 2012 in London, England. (Max Mumby / Indigo / Getty Images)

While Australia’s current prime minister has yet to weigh in on the arrest, former Australian Prime Minister and leader of the Liberal Party Tony Abbott expressed his support for Roberts-Smith on X in a lengthy post.

“If Ben Roberts-Smith transgressed, why wasn’t this picked up prior to his gallantry awards and why wasn’t any culture of brutality towards prisoners detected by his more senior officers, and dealt with quickly, rather than being allowed to fester, as has been alleged, for over a decade?” Abbott wrote.

Allegations that Roberts-Smith engaged in war crimes began circulating publicly in 2017 and 2018 in articles published by The Age, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.

Roberts-Smith filed a defamation suit against the papers, which became Australia’s most expensive defamation trial, but in 2023, a Federal Court judge ruled that four of the six murder allegations brought by the papers against Roberts-Smith were legitimate.

In one of the allegations ruled to have merit by Justice Anthony Besanko, Roberts-Smith allegedly marched a handcuffed Afghan man named Ali Jan off the edge of a 10-meter cliff. He survived the fall, but Roberts-Smith and his fellow soldiers walked down a footpath to meet him. Roberts-Smith then ordered a subordinate, known as Person 11 in court, to shoot him.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 07: Ben Roberts-Smith departs the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney on June 07, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. Ben Roberts-Smith is suing three Fairfax newspapers for defamation over reports he committed war crimes while serving in the Australian Special Air Services in Afghanistan. Ben Roberts-Smith is Australia’s most decorated living soldier and a Victoria Cross recipient. (Sam Mooy / Getty Images)

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The High Court dismissed Roberts-Smith’s appeal of the ruling in September 2025.

The criminal charges against Roberts-Smith stem from a joint effort by OSI and AFP. The two Australian agencies have conducted 53 investigations into ADF members tied to war crime allegations in Afghanistan. Ten of the investigations remain ongoing.

Australia’s most decorated living veteran, Ben Roberts-Smith, faces war crime charges on allegations that he killed five unarmed Afghans while serving in Afghanistan from 2009 and 2012, police and media reported on Tuesday.

Police have not confirmed the name of the 47-year-old former soldier who was arrested on Tuesday. But he has been widely reported in the media to be Roberts-Smith, a former Special Air Service Regiment corporal who was awarded both the Victoria Cross and Medal of Gallantry for his service in Afghanistan.

He is expected to appear in a Sydney court late Tuesday or Wednesday, police said.

Roberts-Smith is only the second Australian veteran of the Afghanistan campaign to be charged with a war crime.

Former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz, 44, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of war crime murder. He is accused of shooting Afghan man Dad Mohammad three times in the head in an Uruzgan province wheatfield in May 2012.

War crime murder carries a potential sentence of life in prison. It’s a federal crime in Australia, defined as the intentional killing in the context of armed conflict of a person who is not taking an active part in hostilities, such as civilians, prisoners of war or wounded soldiers.

Police arrested Roberts-Smith at Sydney Airport on Tuesday after he arrived on a flight from Brisbane, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.

“It will be alleged that the victims were not taking part in hostilities at the time of their alleged murder in Afghanistan. It will be alleged the victims were detained, unarmed and were under the control of ADF members when they were killed,” Barrett told reporters, referring to the Australian Defense Force.

“It will be alleged the victims were shot by the accused or shot by subordinate members of the ADF in the presence of and acting on the orders of the accused,” Barrett added.

In September last year, Australia’s highest court removed Roberts-Smith’s last chance to clear his name of court findings that he unlawfully killed four Afghans.

The High Court said it would not hear his appeal against a federal judge’s civil court finding in 2023 that he likely killed noncombatants unlawfully in 2009 and 2012.

Three federal court judges had unanimously rejected his appeal against that ruling.

Roberts-Smith sued for defamation after several newspapers published articles in 2018 accusing him of a range of war crimes.

But while the civil courts found the war crimes allegations were mostly proven on a balance of probabilities, the new charges would have to be proved in a criminal court to a higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt.

The charges follow a military report released in 2020 that found evidence that elite Australian SAS and commando regiment troops unlawfully killed 39 Afghan prisoners, farmers and other noncombatants.

Barrett said few soldiers were involved in the new allegations.

“The alleged conduct related to these charges is confined to a very small section of our trusted and respected ADF which helps keep this country safe,” Barrett said.

“The overwhelming majority of our ADF do our country proud. Today’s charges are not reflective of the majority of members who serve under our Australian flag with honor, with distinction and with the values of a democratic nation,” she added.

The Office of the Special Investigator was established to work with police on the war crime allegations. The office’s director of investigations Ross Barnett said allegations of 53 war crimes had been investigated and 39 of those investigations had concluded without charges. Around 40,000 Australian military personnel served in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, of whom 41 were killed.

The Department of Homeland Security announced Tuesday it is slackening restrictions on asylum applications set in place after an Afghan asylee allegedly murdered one West Virginia National Guardsman and gravely wounded another in Washington last fall.

The November incident near Farragut Square led President Donald Trump to crack down on allowing asylum seekers into the country, and the administration hammered more lax Biden-era policies that allowed Afghans such as the suspect into the country.

A DHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the stringent screening process itself will not change, nor will restrictions on emigrants from a list of “high-risk” countries.

“Under the leadership of President Trump, maximum screening and vetting for all aliens continues unabated,” the spokesperson said.

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An ICE agent monitors hundreds of asylum seekers being processed upon entering the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building in New York City. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

“USCIS (U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services) has lifted the adjudicative hold for thoroughly screened asylum seekers from non-high-risk countries. This move allows resources to focus on continued rigorous national security and public safety vetting for higher-risk cases.”

Some of the 39 countries the administration deemed lacking in the provision of adequate screening and vetting information to U.S. officials still include Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Mali, Niger, Yemen, Syria, Somalia and Sierra Leone; the latter being where two different migrants named Jalloh, accused of recent violent crimes in Virginia, hailed from.

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“Since taking office, President Trump has prioritized national security and public safety by implementing a series of executive orders and proclamations that mandate strict screening and vetting of foreign nationals seeking entry or immigration benefits,” USCIS said in a statement.

The agency said that security gaps in applications for naturalization or permanent residency exposed serious public safety risks and endangered the integrity of the U.S. immigration system.

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“[A]pplications were approved and individuals were naturalized who should not have been,” the agency said.

The latest move is expected to have limited impact on the situation, according to The Hill newspaper, but will still ease the overall restrictive environment.

Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar (X)

Afghanistan spinner Allah Ghazanfar has made an emotional appeal to the international community after a devastating airstrike struck a rehabilitation centre in Kabul. The young cricketer spoke about the wider impact of the escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan, calling attention to the human cost of the conflict.In what has been described as one of the deadliest airstrikes carried out by Pakistan on Afghanistan, at least 400 people were killed and around 250 others injured. Afghanistan’s deputy government spokesperson Hamdullah Fitrat stated that the strike hit a drug rehabilitation hospital, leaving significant portions of the 2,000-bed facility in ruins. Pakistan, however, has denied the allegations.Ghazanfar highlighted the importance of the facility, stressing that it provided crucial support to vulnerable sections of society.“The people there don’t have money for treatment,” Ghazanfar told CNN News18. “And now, they’ve targeted that place as well; they’ve martyred those people. This is not acceptable to the people of Afghanistan.”Strongly condemning the attack, he also questioned the intent behind such military actions.“I don’t know what they’re trying to prove. They come and target ordinary people, and we simply cannot accept this. Afghanistan cannot accept this,” he said in the interview.“Everyone knows Afghanistan’s history,” he warned. “If that history repeats itself, it will be very bad for Pakistan.”Ghazanfar, who is set to represent Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2026, also spoke about Afghanistan’s ties with India, describing it as a close ally. He urged the global community to step in and help de-escalate the situation, emphasising that such conflicts harm ordinary people the most.“India is our close friend. We want to engage with them, to talk about these issues, so that things like this don’t happen. This is our request to other countries too. This is not good for the people. Right now, the world is going through many challenges, and this is not good for anyone,” he concluded.The spinner is yet to make his IPL debut and has featured in 20 matches for Afghanistan so far, picking up 29 wickets across formats.

Afghan skipper Rashid Khan (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta)

Afghanistan kept their Super Eights hopes alive with a five-wicket win over UAE on Monday, but qualification is still out of their hands. After the victory, South Africa moved into the Super Eights from Group D with six points from three matches. New Zealand, who have four points from three games, can seal the second spot if they beat Canada in Chennai on Tuesday. In that case, Afghanistan, currently on two points from three matches, will be knocked out even if they defeat Canada in their final group match on February 19 in Chennai.

Captain Rashid Khan remained hopeful despite the uncertainty. “Hoping for the best. Yes, (we) still have a little bit of hope, we can make it to the next stage and we just need to come up with a positive mindset (against Canada),” Rashid said at the post-match presentation. “Next game, you never know, it’s a T20 game, we’ll have to come up with a good brand of cricket. Even if we don’t make it to the next round, we want to play with the same brand of cricket and make the country and our people proud and happy.” Rashid said he was pleased to get points on the board after the heartbreaking loss to South Africa in a match decided in the second Super Over. “Happy to finish with a win, it’s important to have points in a T20 World Cup. To restrict them (UAE) under 160 was a good effort, we pulled things back, but we didn’t do well in the first 10 overs. That’s been a problem for us in all the games and something we need to work on,” he said. “We know how aggressive he (Rahmanullah Gurbaz) is. He goes out with a positive mindset – it doesn’t always work, but it’s good for the team when he gets going. We’ve quite a lot of experience, Azmat (Azmatullah Omarzai) has played a lot, (Mohammad) Nabi is the most experienced guy in the team. It’s always good to have experience and that’s something most important.” Player of the Match Azmatullah Omarzai, who returned figures of 4/15 from four overs and struck 40 not out off 21 balls, explained his approach. “I was trying to bowl in the hard length and hit the pitch hard. “It was funny, first ball was a wicket, but the ball didn’t didn’t carry. I took four wickets again. That first wicket got the momentum for us. “When I went to bat, I looked at the scoreboard. There were a lot of balls (left) for us. We needed to play straight and rotate the strike and I was speaking to my partner, (to) just play straight and we were waiting for the bad ball. “It was a good game where everyone did really well and everyone did hard work (on the South Africa game), but the result did not work our way, but we came back really well and hope we will do it again in the next match.

Afghanistan’s Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan (AP)

Afghanistan head coach Jonathan Trott described his side’s defeat to South Africa as “devastating”, admitting the narrow loss in a dramatic T20 World Cup contest would linger with his players. The Proteas edged Afghanistan after a gripping encounter that required two Super Overs, leaving South Africa relieved and Afghanistan heartbroken in one of the most remarkable matches since the tournament began in 2007. Addressing the media after the game on Wednesday, Trott reflected on the emotional toll of back-to-back defeats in a demanding group.

“Just shows what we have as a side. So we’ve got some amazing players and it’s just really devastating for the guys after a tough loss a few days ago against New Zealand and now against South Africa in a tough group as well,” Trott said. The South African-born former England Test batter acknowledged that such losses can hurt deeply. “These guys are never shy of rising up against the challenges that they face throughout their lives on and off the field. “So today they should be very proud and obviously these types of losses sometimes they can hurt and sting for a while but I think it’s important we look at those areas that we did really well in, but also areas that we could improve and things we could have done better. “I think South Africa fielded pretty well actually as well. The run out, a few catches on the boundary, on the ring, those sorts of things. I think they fielded really well. Maybe that was the difference today a little bit,” the Afghanistan head coach said. Under Trott’s guidance, Afghanistan have made significant strides, reaching the semifinals in the previous edition of the T20 World Cup and the quarterfinals of the 2023 ODI World Cup. Though he is set to step down after this tournament, Trott declined to reflect on his tenure, insisting his focus remains on the remaining fixtures. Trott also reserved special praise for Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who smashed 84 off 42 balls in the chase of 187 and followed it with a blistering 18 off 4 balls in the second Super Over. “Those innings as we saw today, I think he should play more often if I’m honest, with the amount of talent that he has and the physique and the sporting ability and natural hand-eye coordination. “He wears his heart on his sleeve and he’s quite an animated character. I think the years that I’ve been with him now, I’m just trying to get him to be a little bit more consistent in everything that he does.”

Cricket fans at Chepauk watching the ICC T20 World Cup match between Afghanistan vs New Zealand
| Photo Credit: RAGU R

Donald Trump is sending 35 criminal illegal aliens back to the UK amid his immigration crackdown that triggered shockwaves across America and the world.

The Britons feature on a list of shame dubbed the ‘worst of the worst’ drawn up and published by Trump’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.

It means more ‘worst of the worst’ criminals are being deported back to the UK from America than to Afghanistan or Iraq. There are 19 Afghans on the list, and 31 Iraqis.

A Daily Mail analysis of the countries of origin of the ‘worst of the worst’ illegal migrants also shows more are being sent back to the UK than France, Germany and Italy combined.

France is receiving nine, Germany eight, and Italy 10.

Offenses committed by the Britons include homicide, drug trafficking, sexual exploitation of minors, fraud, and making bomb threats.

Those on the list include three British women.

Mugshots of British criminals who feature on Donald Trump’s ‘worst of the worst’ list of illegal aliens being deported from America. Their pictures have been published online by the US Department of Homeland Security 

President Donald Trump has removed more than 700,000 illegal immigrants from the United States

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem with ICE agents during an operation in Arizona

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said more than half of the 35 British criminals – 22 of them – had already been deported.

She told the Daily Mail: ‘If you break the law, you will face the consequences. Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the US.

‘The 35 criminal illegal aliens from the UK listed on the Worst of the Worst website [have] criminal histories including multiple counts of homicide, enticement of a minor, lewd or lascivious acts with a minor, robbery, assault, aggravated assault, weapons offenses, and drug trafficking.

’22 of these criminal illegal aliens have already been removed from the US.

‘Under President Trump’s and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership, DHS has already removed more than 700,000 illegal aliens.’

(L) Rosalie McCann, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had a conviction for identity theft, and was arrested in Pennsylvania, according to the US Department of Homeland Security; (R) Mohamed Bah, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had gun and assault convictions, and was arrested in Hagerstown, Maryland, according to the US Department of Homeland Security

(L) Harry Stacey, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had a conviction for drug trafficking and was arrested in Bentonville, Arkansas, according to the US Department of Homeland Security; (R) Raechal Wood, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had a conviction for drug possession, and was arrested in Ocala, Florida, according to the US Department of Homeland Security

It comes as Trump, Noem and ICE are embroiled in turmoil in the wake of the recent fatal shootings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents in Minneapolis.

The ‘worst of the worst’ list – which is expected to grow – reflects the approach of Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who has been at odds with Noem over how best to enforce the president’s immigration policies.

Noem pursued a strategy of high-profile raids to round up as many illegal immigrants as possible, sometimes joining operations herself in tactical gear and taking TV cameras along.

Homan has argued for a more targeted approach to capture and deport the ‘worst of the worst’ illegal alien criminals – like the ones featured on the list of shame.

In the wake of the fatal ICE shootings Trump sent Homan to Minneapolis to ‘fix’ the problem there.

Homan subsequently confirmed that future immigration operations would be ‘targeted’ against specific individuals.

President Trump’s ICE is returning 35 ‘worst of the worst’ illegal immigrants to Keir Starmer’s UK

(L) Winston Percival Lee, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had a conviction for homicide and was arrested in New York, according to the US Department of Homeland Security; (R) Richard Castle, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had had convictions including sexual exploitation of a minor, and was arrested in Missouri, according to the US Department of Homeland Security

The list of shame so far also features 25 criminals from Russia and 34 from Ukraine.

There are 137 from China, 347 from Venezuela, and 62 from Somalia, according to an analysis by the Daily Mail.

In total, the number of illegal aliens so far featured on the ‘worst of the worst’ list was 20,249 as of January 28.

The country with by far the most citizens on it is Mexico with 9,739.

The 35 UK-origin criminals represent only a portion of the total removals to the UK under Trump’s widespread immigration crackdown.

Tom Homan, Trump’s Border Czar, wants to target the ‘worst of the worst’ illegal immigrants

An anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis in the wake of the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by immigration agents

Federal agents clash with rioters on the streets of Minneapolis

A protest against ICE in downtown Minneapolis

According to the Department of Homeland Security, the three women on the ‘worst of the worst’ list include Raechal Wood, who it said had a conviction for drug possession and was detained by ICE in Florida.

Jessica Bell Tulloch had convictions for offenses including robbery and was arrested in New Jersey, according to the DHS.

Rosalie McCann was convicted of identity theft and held in Pennsylvania, the list showed.

Also on the ‘worst of the worst’ list was Sean Bourne, who was shown as convicted of homicide and assaulting a police officer, and detained in Orlando, Florida.

Shawn Winston Percival Lee was listed as convicted of homicide, and detained in New York, according to the DHS.

Harry Stacey was convicted of drug trafficking in Bentonville, Arkansas, the department said.

Richard Castle was convicted of offenses including ‘sexual exploitation of minor’ and arrested in Springfield, Missouri, according to the ‘worst of the worst’ list.

The DHS says the list was produced to ‘highlight the worst of worst criminal aliens arrested by ICE’.

(L) Phillip Harkins, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had convictions including homicide and robbery, and was arrested in Tallahassee, Florida, according to the US Department of Homeland Security; (R) Sean Bourne, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had convictions including homicide, and was arrested in Orlando, Florida, according to the US Department of Homeland Security

(L) Jessica Bell Tulloch, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had convictions including robbery, and was arrested in New Jersey, according to the US Department of Homeland Security; (R) Leslie Service, an illegal immigrant from the UK, had convictions including ‘threat to bomb,’ and was arrested in Virginia, according to the US Department of Homeland Security

‘Under Secretary Kristi Noem’s leadership, the hardworking men and women of DHS and ICE are fulfilling President Trump’s promise and carrying out mass deportations – starting with the worst of the worst – including the illegal aliens you see here,’ it says.

Noem is currently under heavy pressure over her handling of the Good and Pretti shootings.

She called Good, an unarmed mother, a ‘domestic terrorist,’ and suggested Pretti was ‘brandishing’ a gun, which videos from the scene showed he was not.

On Monday, Trump held a two-hour meeting with her in the Oval Office before sending Homan to Minneapolis, but the president has said she will stay in her job.

President Trump had an emotional phone call with the parents of Staten Island native and Army Staff Sgt. Michael Ollis to inform them that their son would be posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for heroically sacrificing his life in Afghanistan over a decade ago.

Robert and Linda Ollis were in the kitchen of their Staten Island home on Monday when the commander in chief greeted the couple on the phone and asked how they were holding up, according to a video posted on the SSG Michael Ollis Freedom Foundation Facebook page.

“We’re very nervous,” Robert said on speakerphone.

“You should be, because your son is going to get the highest honor that you can have,” Trump shared. “There is no higher honor than the Congressional Medal of Honor.”

The soldier’s father’s eyes lit up at the announcement, his expression shifting into a proud smile.

“He’s looking down at you right now, he’s saying, ‘Well, my mom and dad are handling this pretty well,’” Trump said of their son.

Ollis was just 24 years old, serving as an Army infantryman, when he was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 28, 2013, during a Taliban attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni.

In the chaos of the attack, Ollis threw himself between a suicide bomber and a Polish officer, absorbing the deadly blast and laying down his life in an act of pure selflessness.

Witnesses said his actions likely protected more than 40 service members and civilians on the base.

Ollis was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second-highest combat award, before efforts began to elevate the recognition to the Medal of Honor, according to Military Times.

After years of advocacy by his family, veteran groups, elected officials — most notably Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-NY — and the Staten Island community, Trump approved the nation’s highest military honor for Ollis.

The Medal of Honor is reserved only for service members who go above and beyond the call of duty by showing remarkable valor and selflessness in the heat of battle, at the risk of their own lives.

The Medal is awarded after cases are rigorously reviewed, a process that requires detailed battlefield reports, at least two sworn eyewitness accounts, and additional corroborating evidence.

The couple expressed deep gratitude to the president for approving the Medal of Honor, which has been awarded posthumously 618 times, according to the Army.

“Thank you so much, Mr. President. You have no idea the happiness we have,” Robert shared.

“Thank you for facilitating this! This is so wonderful,” Linda said, adding that the family had advocated for their son to receive the honor for years and reached out to countless people before he finally approved it.

Trump also applauded the parents for their tireless work to keep their son’s story alive for more than a decade.

“Otherwise, how are we going to know, right? You know, people don’t know. So I think that’s fantastic,” Trump said.

Trump then told the pair that they would head to the White House for the ceremony, where a “few” recipients would also receive the honor, noting that they were “all brave people.” The president did not clarify whom he was referring to.

“I read what your son did, and it’s — I wouldn’t do it, Linda,” Trump told Ollis’ mother about her son’s bravery.

“I’m not brave enough either,” Linda said with a soft laugh.

“Neither am I. Even though I’m a Vietnam Vet, I still wouldn’t have done it,” Robert added.

Trump encouraged them to gather the family and “go celebrate,” reminding them their son would be proud before ending the call.