Private jail vigilantes deny torture charges

Three American counter-terrorism vigilantes accused of running a private jail in Afghanistan appeared in court today and denied charges that they tortured eight prisoners.

The group’s leader, Jonathan Idema, accused authorities of withholding hundreds of documents and videos which he claimed proved his contacts with the CIA, FBI and the US Department of Defence.

Idema, Brett Bennett and Edward Caraballo were arrested when Afghan security forces raided their makeshift jail in a house in Kabul on July 5. They face charges including hostage-taking and “mental and physical torture”.

They face up to 20 years in Afghan jails if convicted.

Along with four Afghans accused of helping them, they made their second court appearance in the Afghan capital today amid chaotic scenes as Idema accused Afghan and US authorities of conspiring against them.

Idema, a former American soldier and convicted fraudster reportedly aged 48, is conducting his own defence, but said he was unable to do so properly as he had received no translation of the indictment or laws on which he was being charged.

“We don’t even know what the law says,” he said.

Presiding Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari said Idema had agreed to conduct his own defence and accused him of failing to respond to the charges. “You just want to waste time. You understand perfectly,” he said.

Idema alleged that Afghan intelligence agents had confiscated some 200 videotapes, 500 pages of documents and more than 800 photos and given them to US authorities.

He said these materials were key to the defence, as they gave details of the interrogations of prisoners and proved the defendants were operating with the knowledge of American military and law enforcers.

Idema, from Fayetteville, North Carolina, has previously claimed his men had arrested “world-class terrorists” and that he was in contact with senior Pentagon officials.

The military, facing its own allegations of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan, says the men were freelancers operating outside the law and without their knowledge.