AN Afghan villager who claims he saw a "big soldier" kick a farmer into a river bed in Afghanistan has denied lying in his court evidence about being shot at during an SAS raid on his village.
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 the raid on Darwan, in Uruzgan province, in September 2012.
A key claim in allegedly defamatory media reports is that Mr Roberts-Smith kicked a farmer named Ali Jan off a small cliff during the SAS operation.
The war hero denies all claims against him and says Ali Jan was a Taliban spotter.
Mr Hanifa on Tuesday rejected claims from Mr Roberts-Smith's barrister Bruce McClintock SC that he lied about being shot at by soldiers in the SAS raid.
Latest Stories
Mr Hanifa told the court that he saw soldiers on a mountain that fired two shots at him from the east of Darwan.
"They were at the top of the mountain on the stones," he told the court via a Pashto interpreter.
Mr McClintock put to the witness that he didn't see any soldiers at that stage.
"Of course I saw the soldiers, they were kneeling down, they fired at us, they were at the top of the mountain," Mr Hanifa replied.
The witness also denied lying in his evidence about how many helicopters were present in the raid or seeing a dog brought by the soldiers.
He also rejected Mr McClintock's suggestion that his evidence about seeing a big soldier with a wet uniform was "completely untrue".
The witness said he saw the big soldier with his own eyes.
"Whether you call it a lie it's up to you," he said.
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 heard that four people were killed in the raid including a Taliban fighter who was armed with a Kalishnakv rifle, ammunition and a walkie-talkie.
Mr Hanifa conceded knowing a Taliban fighter's nickname but denied knowing it from listening to a Taliban wireless network.
"I haven't listened to that," he said.
Mr Hanifa also 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?" Mr McClintock asked.
"No he was not," the witness replied.
The witness agreed with Mr McClintock 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."
"You hate them, don't you?" Mr McClintock asked the witness.
"No I don't like them," Mr Hanifa replied.
On Monday Mr Hanifa told the court he saw a big soldier kick Ali Jan into a river bed and that two soldiers dragged him to a berry tree.
He testified that he later observed the body of Ali Jan and saw gunshot wounds.
He has given evidence 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
