Afghan warlord faces life in jail for terror campaign

AN Afghan warlord faces a life behind bars in a British jail after he was convicted yesterday at the Old Bailey of a “heinous” campaign of torture and hostage taking in his homeland.

Faryadi Sarwar Zardad pursued a merciless reign of terror in Afghanistan between 1992 and 1996.

The court heard evidence of summary execution, the slaughter of 10 or 11 men in a minibus, an old man being imprisoned in a metal cupboard and whipped with a bicycle cable and a seven-year-old witnessing his father's ear being cut off.