LONDON, 20 July 2005 — Afghan warlord Faryadi Sarwar Zardad was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a London court yesterday for torture and hostage-taking in Afghanistan in a landmark case for international law. Zardad, 42, who lived in south London, had denied the charges, which included keeping a “human dog” to savage his victims.
The ruling came as Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai met Prime Minister Tony Blair during a brief trip to London. In the first trial of its kind under a UN torture convention, Zardad, who fled to Britain in 1998 on a fake passport, was prosecuted at the Old Bailey even though he is not a British citizen and his crimes were committed overseas.
The gravity of Zardad’s crimes “is demonstrated by the fact that most unusually a person who has committed them in another country can be tried and punished for them by the courts of this country,” said judge Colman Treacy. “The reason for this is that these crimes of which you have been convicted are recognized as crimes against humanity which transcend national boundaries.” Treacy said he was sure Zardad had personally shot dead one man in the presence of his men. He was also present and knew what was about to happen when a bus containing men of different ethnic origin was shot up.
“I do not have the jurisdiction to sentence you for murder so I must leave that element out of my sentencing,” he said.
“However, I still take account of what occurred as a demonstration of the brutality by yourself personally and those under your command. “These episodes are powerful confirmational elements of your total disregard for humanity.”
Other evidence of hostage-taking and torture included stabbing, the cutting off of an ear, repeated whippings with electric cable, repeated beatings with rifle butts and other acts of cruel infliction of pain, said the judge.
He noted that the warlord had denounced such atrocities during the trial, while denying his responsibility. “It is clear to me from the evidence that for a period of over three years you, as a powerful warlord, presided over a brutal regime of terror in areas under your control,” the judge said.
Handing down the sentence, Treacy recommended that Zardad be deported to Afghanistan after serving his jail term, despite being told he would face certain death there.
Adding to the drama, Zardad lifted his fist three times in salute and shouted in his own language “Allah is Greatest” as he was led off to cells.
The British jury, who unanimously convicted the warlord on Monday, heard evidence of summary execution, the slaughter of 10 or 11 men in a minibus, and an old man imprisoned in a metal cupboard and whipped with a bicycle cable. The court was also told about the “human dog” kept by Zardad and his men, a man in chains who would be set on victims to bite them.
Many of Zardad’s victims — some fearing for their lives — gave evidence from the British Embassy in Kabul via video link in two groundbreaking trials, the first of which was halted last year without conclusion. Zardad fled to Britain in 1998 to seek asylum after fighting both the Russians and the Taleban during Afghanistan’s civil war between 1992 and 1996.
