Americans Guilty Of Afghan Torture

Three Americans accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail were found guilty Wednesday in a Kabul court after a trial denounced by the defense as failing to meet basic international standards of fairness.

The three-judge panel sentenced accused ringleader Jonathan Idema, a former soldier with a past fraud conviction, and his right-hand man, Brent Bennett, to 10 years in jail. New York journalist Edward Caraballo received an eight-year term. Four Afghan accomplices were also convicted and sentenced to terms ranging from one to five years.

Presiding Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari issued the unanimous verdict after a 7½-hour session in which the defense argued that the war-battered Afghan justice system did not guarantee basic rights.

The judge had indicated he might give the defense more time to make its case but apparently changed his mind after letting lawyers for the men show several videotapes they said attested to their innocence.

Idema, who attended each hearing wearing sunglasses and khaki fatigues bearing a U.S. flag, denounced the decision as a throwback to the times of the hard-line Taliban movement.

"It's the same sick Taliban judges, the same sick sense of justice," Idema said as he was led, handcuffed, out of the courtroom.

"I knew that the American government wasn't going to help me," he added.

He said he planned to appeal.

The men were arrested July 5 after Afghan security forces raided a house in downtown Kabul and discovered eight Afghans who said they had been tortured as part of the Americans' freelance hunt for terrorists.

Wednesday's proceedings were the most orderly yet in a trial mired by chaotic procedures, dismal translation and constant outbursts from Idema. Scant evidence was produced, and there was little cross-examination.

The Americans had faced up to 20 years in jail on charges of kidnapping, torture, theft and illegal entry into Afghanistan. In announcing his verdict, Bakhtyari did not outline precisely what charges the men were found guilty of.

The defense drew heavily on video shot by Caraballo, a journalist who says he was making a documentary on America's war on terrorism.

Video shown in court shows the group being greeted at Kabul Airport by the airport director and the city police chief — evidence the defense said showed that they did not come to Afghanistan illegally but instead had official support for their mission.

The three said their entry was arranged personally by Afghanistan's ambassador to India, a senior member of the Northern Alliance who has known Idema for several years, although they acknowledged not having official visas.

"It's ridiculous to claim they entered illegally under these circumstances," defense lawyer Robert Fogelnest said.

Fogelnest also argued that the Afghan legal system was so badly devastated by more than two decades of war that it wasn't fit to carry out the trial.

This entire proceeding "doesn't meet international standards and should be halted," he said, but was quickly cut off by Bakhtyari, who insisted he stick to discussing the charges against his clients.

"Come to the point, if you have any arguments," the judge said.

Idema, of Fayetteville, N.C., claims to have unearthed a plot to bomb the main American military base north of Kabul and assassinate Afghan leaders. In an interview with The Associated Press, he also claimed to be hot on the trail of Osama bin Laden.

The U.S. military in Afghanistan has admitted receiving a prisoner from Idema and holding him for about two months. NATO forces also cooperated briefly with the three, sending explosives experts to assist in three armed arrest raids in the Afghan capital.

But Idema has since been denounced by the alliance and the American military as an impostor, and disowned by Afghan leaders and the Defense Department, where he claims to have high-level contacts.

Several of the group's former prisoners have told the court they were beaten, burned with scalding water and deprived of food and sleep.

Idema says the prisoners were subjected to "standard interrogation techniques" — but no abuse.

By Stephen Graham