Afghan warlord found guilty of torture

In what has been described as a ‘landmark’ case, Afghan warlord Faryadi Zardad has been found guilty of torture and hostage taking, following a retrial which saw witnesses giving evidence via video link from another country.

The conviction follows a lengthy police investigation which tracked the warlord’s victims across Afghanistan, where Zardad, 42, maintained control of the road between the Afghan capital Kabul and the city of Jalalabad.

Fleeing the regime change, Zardad left Afghanistan in 1998, and arrived in Britain using a forged passport, where he sought asylum. He took up residence in Streatham, south London, but dropped his application when he learned that his activities in Afghanistan were being investigated. However, in 2004, when the case was first brought to trial, the jury was unable to agree.

During the retrial, the court heard that during the 1990s, "Commander Zardad" commanded a group of soldiers who demanded money or supplies from travellers making the journey along the unprotected Kabul-Jalalabad road. In order to enforce compliance, it was alleged that Zardad ordered his men to commit what the prosecution described as “indiscriminate and unwarranted violence”.

The jury heard evidence from a variety of witnesses, whose testimony was beamed into the courtroom from the embassy in Kabul, following a change in the law to allow video evidence to be admitted in a trial of this nature.

Many people came forward to describe how they had been beaten or taken hostage by Zardad’s gang, with some alleging that the warlord kept a ‘human dog’ in the form of a mentally ill man, who he had trained to maul prisoners.

Zardad, who had denied all charges, was found guilty of conspiring to torture and take hostages - he will be sentenced on Tuesday.

(CL/SP)