KABUL, Sept 15: An Afghan court on Wednesday sentenced three Americans to between eight and 10 years in prison for illegally running a private jail and torturing suspects in a "private war on terror".
Jonathan "Jack" Idema, 48, and Brent Bennett, 28, received 10-year terms. Co-defendant Edward Caraballo, 42, who claimed to be a freelance journalist making a documentary on their activities, was handed an eight-year sentence by the special tribunal in Kabul which has been hearing the case since mid-August.
The trio were arrested in July for running a private prison and "counter-terrorism operation" in Kabul and jailing and torturing at least eight Afghans as part of a "private war on terror". Their four Afghan accomplices were sentenced to between one and five years in prison.
Jonathan Idema has claimed that he was carrying out genuine anti-terrorist operations in coordination with the US Defence Department and Afghan authorities, a claim denied by both governments. "I apologize that we saved these people," said Idema, wearing his beige military-style uniform with a US flag on one sleeve.
"We should have left the Taliban murder every goddamn one of them - I operated in this country at the highest level," he said before being escorted off by men armed with assault rifles.
Lawyers for the Americans immediately said they would appeal. "I don't know how the appeal is going to play out. We are in the midst of two different elections, the United States government as well as the Afghan government," said Idema's attorney, John Tiffany.
The Americans "don't want to acknowledge what they are doing in Afghanistan, perhaps the same way they did not want to acknowledge what they were doing in Abu Ghraib," said Caraballo's lawyer, Robert Fogelnest, referring to the infamous Iraqi jail where prisoners were abused by US soldiers.
In passing sentence, Judge Abdulbasset Bakhtiari said "they don't have any connection with the American forces and described them as a "private group" of "inexperienced people".
International peacekeeping troops deployed in Afghanistan have confirmed that they assisted Idema on three separate raids, presuming him to be a member of the US special forces.
The group led by Idema, whom US media described as a bounty hunter, had also handed over a suspected terrorist to the US-led occupation forces in Afghanistan. The man was later released.
The case has illuminated the shadowy world of private security contractors in Afghanistan and strengthened calls by rights groups for the US-led military to open its detention centres to independent inspection.
The trial had been marked by chaotic scenes and was adjourned several times, on one occasion last month when the Federal Bureau of Investigation handed over key documents to the defence part-way through a hearing.
The final day in court was marked by the viewing of tapes presented by defence as proving the group had taken "terrorists" in for questioning and had links with the Pentagon.
One tape showed the searching of the house of an Afghan supreme court judge, who was questioned by the group in June. A flag was shown of the Hezb-i-Islami of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, whom Washington has declared a wanted terrorist. On the tape, Idema is accompanied by Afghan police. -AFP
