The arrest of Australia’s most decorated living soldier, Ben Roberts-Smith, has made international headlines with Americans now demanding that the US protect him.
Roberts-Smith, 47, was arrested on Tuesday at Sydney’s Domestic Airport after he landed on a flight from Brisbane with his teenage twin daughters.
He has been charged with five counts of war crime – murder over alleged incidents in Afghanistan between April 2009 and October 2012.
The arrest was the result of a costly five-year-long joint investigation by the Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
The allegations against the Victoria Cross recipient were previously published in newspapers and Roberts-Smith has long maintained his innocence.
Following the news of former elite SAS soldier’s arrest, there has been an outpouring of fury from American social media users and even high profile US media figures.
David J Harris Junior – a commentator for cable channel Newsmax, a ‘Make America Healthy Again’ entrepreneur and a supporter of Donald Trump – has led the charge.
‘War heroes should NOT be treated like this!’ he wrote on Tuesday.
Retired SAS soldier Ben Roberts-Smith was arrested at Sydney Airport on Tuesday
American commentator and Donald Trump Supporter David Harris Junior posted on social media in support of Roberts-Smith
One user responded: ‘USA should offer (him) asylum’, to which another person said it was a ‘good idea’.
Another wrote: ‘Okay USA, let’s go rescue this hero next’, referencing the American airmen saved by special forces in south-western Iran within the last week after their jet was shot down.
A third said: ‘He can have American citizenship. I will support that.’
This is not the first time, within the past 48 hours, that figures in the United States have weighed in on Roberts-Smith’s arrest.
Elon Musk, billionaire owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, responded on Tuesday to a viral post that reported Roberts‑Smith had been arrested.
‘This sounds insane,’ he wrote on social media.
Former US Navy SEAL veteran turned entrepreneur Mike Sarraille also made a surprise reference about Roberts-Smith while appearing on breakfast TV show Sunrise on Wednesday.
‘Free Ben-Roberts-Smith!’ he told stunned presenter Nat Barr, as taken aback co-host Matt Shirvington changed the topic by quickly moving on to the next segment.
Roberts-Smith served in Afghanistan as part of the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR)
Harris Junior said ‘war heroes should not be treated like this’, referencing the arrest
The two-metre-tall war veteran was arrested at Sydney’s Domestic Airport this week in front of his twin teenage daughters
Roberts-Smith is accused of murdering unarmed civilians while deployed in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012, and of failing to prevent members of his unit from killing three others.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The veteran has consistently denied any wrongdoing during his service with the Australian Defence Force.
Roberts-Smith previously sued Nine newspapers and journalists Nick McKenzie and Chris Masters for defamation over a series of reports in 2018, which accused him of war crimes.
In 2023, Justice Anthony Besanko found, on the balance of probabilities, that claims Roberts-Smith was responsible for the murder of four unarmed male civilians while deployed in Afghanistan were substantially true.
He had appealed his 2023 Federal Court loss, disputing Justice Besanko’s findings, arguing they were not backed up by sufficient evidence for such serious claims.
Last year, Australia’s highest court refused the former soldier’s application to appeal the Federal Court findings.
The Australian Centre for International Justice welcomed the arrest of Roberts-Smith as an ‘important step towards truth and accountability’.
Its principal lawyer and executive director Rawan Arraf has been a long-time advocate for David McBride, who brought forward allegations of war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
McBride is currently serving a jail sentence until at least August 2026, after pleading guilty to leaking classified documents.
