Liberal candidate co-authored inquiry submission suggesting Hazaras not persecuted for ethnicity in Afghanistan

Exclusive: Zahid Safi, who is running in Melbourne seat of Bruce, listed as last author on 2021 Senate submission which says victims of Afghanistan war not based on ethnicity'

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The Liberal candidate for Bruce co-authored a parliamentary submission suggesting the Hazara community in Afghanistan was not persecuted on the basis of its ethnicity, contradicting the Australian government and drawing rebuke from international human rights groups.

Zahid Safi co-authored a submission to a 2021 parliamentary inquiry into Australia's involvement in the Afghanistan war, which incorrectly cited a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report to allege Hazara warlords" had cut the breasts of women" and watched live delivery of pregnant women" during the early 1990s. The 2005 HRW report does not mention these acts.

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