Afghan warlord gets 20 years for ‘brutal’ campaign of torture

AFGHAN warlord Faryadi Zardad was jailed for 20 years by a British court yesterday for a “heinous and brutal” campaign of torture and hostage-taking in his homeland.

The Old Bailey judge, Mr Justice Treacy, told him that the crimes of which he had been convicted "transgressed the basic rights of humanity." He said Zardad had been in "a position of real power."

"You were personally involved in these acts of torture and hostage-taking as well as authorising your men," the judge told him.

The warlord lifted his fist three times in salute and shouted in his own language "Allah is great" as he was led to cells to start his sentence.

He was convicted on Monday in a landmark case in which the court heard evidence of summary execution, the slaughter of 10 or 11 men in a minibus, and an old man imprisoned in a metal box and whipped with a bicycle cable.

Zardad also kept a "human dog" to savage victims. Zardad, 41, of Gleneagles Road, Streatham, south London, had denied conspiracy to torture and take hostages between 1992 and 1996.

The case is believed to be unique.

It is the first time in any country, in international law or in English law, where offences of torture and hostage taking have been prosecuted.

After Zardad was convicted by unanimous verdicts, the Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC, said the case showed "there is no hiding place here for torturers and hostage takers."

Many of Zardad's victims some in fear of their lives gave evidence from the British Embassy in Kabul via video link in two groundbreaking trials.