KABUL, 31 August 2004 — An Afghan court yesterday postponed for 10 days the trial of three Americans accused of torturing prisoners at a private jail, according to a senior judge said. The three US citizens, along with four Afghan nationals, are accused of running a “freelance” operation of detaining and interrogating terror suspects and are facing charges of torturing Afghan civilians.
The group was arrested July 5 after officials said they had jailed and tortured civilians at a private prison and conducted unauthorized counter-terrorism activities in Kabul. Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari told Deutsche Presse-Agentur that the defense lawyer for leader Jonathan K. Idema, only arrived on Sunday from the United States.
Simultaneously, accused Edward Caraballo changed lawyers to an Afghan appointed one, Bakhtyari said, as did the third accused Brent Bennett. Idema has repeatedly claimed he was in close contact with NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, U.S-led coalition forces, senior officials at the Pentagon and Afghan senior officials.
Idema says he has made hundreds of arrests in the past three years and handed over the suspects to US forces. The US government, military and the ISAF have all denied any connection with Idema and his colleagues, but US forces did admit last month to receiving one Afghan prisoner from Idema. The Afghan was imprisoned for two months before his innocence was proven.
The group has been labeled as vigilantes and bounty hunters, seeking the high rewards posted for capture of prominent Al-Qaeda fugitives. ISAF staff also has said that they mistakenly had supported Idema in some raids in Kabul, but were unaware Idema was operating illegally.
Meanwhile, the same court yesterday sentenced an Afghan child kidnapper to 20 years of prison, a senior judge said. Bakhtyari said that the Afghan police arrested kidnapper Mira Jan in Paghman district of Kabul late last month.
Bakhtyari said that Jan confessed to kidnapping a 14-year-old Afghan from Peshawar, Pakistan, and then brought him to Paghman. “He (Jan) also had sexually abused the kidnapped boy,” Bakhtyari said.
