Americans jailed for abuse of prisoners

THREE Americans accused of torturing Afghans in a private jail were jailed for up to ten years yesterday after a trial denounced by the defence as failing to meet basic international standards of fairness.

Two of the men - the alleged ringleader Jonathan Idema and his right-hand man, Brent Bennett - were given ten-year sentences. The third, New York journalist Edward Caraballo, was jailed for eight years. Four Afghan accomplices were also jailed.

Idema, a bearded former soldier and convicted fraudster who attended each hearing in dark sunglasses and khaki fatigues bearing a US flag, denounced the decision as a throwback to the times of the hard-line Taliban movement.