Faryadi Zardad sentenced to 20 years imprisonment

Afghan warlord Faryadi Zardad has been sentenced to 20 years in jail, after being found guilty of torture and hostage taking, following a landmark case which involved evidence being given via video link from another country.

Zardad, 42, was handed two 20-year terms, set to run concurrently. Sentencing, Mr Justice Treacy told Zardad: "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. You represented the only real form of authority, law and government in the areas under your control and you grossly abused your power."

Mr Justice Treacy also recommended Zardad be deported after serving his sentence.

The conviction follows a lengthy police investigation which tracked the warlord’s victims across Afghanistan, where Zardad 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 south London, but dropped his application when he learned that his activities in Afghanistan were being investigated. 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.

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.

(CL/SP)