'Spare' saga continues; Afghans demand putting Prince Harry on trial

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
10 Jan 2023 10:12
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Prince Harry accused his stepmother, Camilla, the Queen's consort, of leaking confidential discussions to the media in order to boost her own profile.

Mullah Abdullah lost nine relatives when his house was hit by an airstrike in 2011. (Sky News)

Afghans have taken to the street calling for putting Prince Harry on trial for the people he admitted to killing during the UK occupation of Afghanistan.

Prince Harry's memoir "Spare" drew condemnation from the media, commentators, army veterans, and even the Taliban. Days before the book's official release on Tuesday, revelations from the book dominated headlines and airwaves after a Spanish-language edition of the memoir was leaked and sold.

Harry reportedly admitted in his book that he killed 25 people in Afghanistan. Rubbing salt into the wound, he likened his actions to removing "chess pieces" from aboard.

Harry's revelations were deemed boastful and inappropriate, causing a huge shock and a wave of indignation justified worldwide. Simultaneously, Afghans have demanded that Prince Harry be prosecuted for the deaths of those he confessed to killing while serving the UK troops in Afghanistan.

Harry served in the British military for ten years, all the way up to the rank of captain.

He served twice, first as a forward air controller ordering in airstrikes in 2007 and 2008, and then as an attack helicopter pilot in 2012 and 2013.

“I lost nine relatives”

Mullah Abdullah, a relative of a casualty of a 2011 bombing claimed by British forces, was among many who thought Harry should stand prosecution.

He heartfully stated that he lost nine relatives when a British airstrike targeted his house in the village of Yakhchal in the Nahr-E-Saraj area while he was at the market.

The bereaved son said, as quoted by AP from the graveside of his dead father, who was among those killed, "We ask the international community to put this person (Prince Harry) on trial, and we should get compensation for our losses.”

"We lost our house, our life, and family members, we lost our livelihood and also our loved ones," he added.

“British officer belonging to the Royal Family martyred 25 Afghans”

A group of Taliban officials rallied in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, where British forces were stationed between 2006 and 2014, and echoed calls for the duke to be tried.

Hameedullah Hameedi, a member of the provincial council in Helmand, said as quoted by Sky News, "If Harry considered himself a member of a civilized world, this is a shame for him to say that (he killed 25 people).”

"And it is an even bigger shame for him to talk about it proudly, like an illiterate person of a poor society with no knowledge and no education.”

"We are not only demanding that he be prosecuted in the international court but also demanding the international community punish him as soon as possible," he tersely stated.

He concluded by saying, "It will definitely have an impact on British-Afghan relations because people are aware that it is a British officer belonging to the Royal Family - Prince Harry - who martyred 25 Afghans and has committed such crimes."

On his account, deputy director of education in Helmand Samiullah Sayed added, "As the prince has admitted, he has martyred 25 people. Not only Harry but all the others who invaded Afghanistan have committed the same crimes.”

"As an independent nation, we will never ever forget the brutality, savagery, and cruelty that they performed against our nation and our people," he said.

Some of the protesters held up posters with photographs of Harry with a red cross through them.

Harry reportedly admitted in the book that the killings of the 25 Afghans "was not something that filled me with satisfaction, but I was not ashamed either."

It is worth noting that Prince Harry accused his stepmother, Camilla, the Queen's consort, of leaking confidential discussions to the media in order to boost her own profile.

In interviews aired Sunday and Monday to promote his book, Harry accused members of the Royal Family of "getting into bed with the devil" in order to gain favorable tabloid coverage, singling out Camilla's efforts to repair her image with the British people following her long-running affair with his father, now King Charles III.

The much-anticipated book is to be widely released Tuesday.