The NRL's first and only Afghan player has expressed his disappointment in the Brisbane Broncos for allowing war crimes accused Ben Roberts-Smith to attend a game.
The NRL ’s first and only Afghan player has expressed his disappointment in the Brisbane Broncos for allowingOmar Slaimankhel, who played five games for the New Zealand Warriors, and whose parents were forced to flee Afghanistan to neighbouring Pakistan by foot because of ongoing conflict in their homeland, was in China on business when he learned about Roberts-Smith spending time in the Broncos’ inner sanctum at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.multiple war crimes Roberts-Smith faces a maximum penalty of life imprisonment for each charge.
The former SAS corporal has rejected the charges, saying, “I categorically deny all of these allegations”. Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed on Monday Roberts-Smith had accompanied his daughters to theafter they were invited to attend by the spouse of a club staff member who knows the girls through school connections. Roberts-Smith, the same sources confirmed, is friends with Broncos welfare officer Adam Walsh, a former SAS soldier with whom he served overseas.
The NRL were not commenting on Roberts-Smith’s impromptu dressing-room visit, and said it was a matter for the Broncos. The Broncos would not comment. Knowing what his own family had been through back home, Slaimankhel told this masthead it was disappointing to hear about Roberts-Smith’s game-day appearance.
“It’s deeply troubling that someone charged with war crimes continues to be given a platform in public spaces,” Slaimankhel said. “This is yet another chapter in a decades-long pattern of dehumanising people from the Middle East, and quietly burying the crimes of imperialism. , and directing a subordinate to execute a man in September 2012. He is also alleged to have executed a prisoner with a prosthetic leg during an Easter Sunday mission in Afghanistan in 2009.
Slaimankhel, 34, was born in Pakistan before he moved to New Zealand with his family when he was two years old. He was named fullback in the 2011 Toyota Cup team of the year, which was then the NRL’s under-20s competition, which also featured Newcastle’s Dane Gagai and North Queensland’s Jason Taumalolo. In 2023, Slaimankhel and his good friend Oz Malik were crowned winners of The Block, with the pair pocketing a then record profit of $1.69m.
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