Americans sentenced in Afghan torture

By STEPHEN GRAHAM
Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- Three Americans - led by a former Green Beret who boasted he had Pentagon support - were found guilty Wednesday of torturing Afghans in a private jail and were sentenced to prison.

After a 7 1/2-hour session in a stuffy Kabul courtroom, the three-judge panel was unanimous in convicting the former soldier, Jonathan Idema, and his right-hand man, Brent Bennett, on charges of entering Afghanistan illegally, making illegal arrests, establishing a private jail and torturing their captives. They were sentenced to 10 years.

Edward Caraballo, a cameraman who said he was making a film about America's war on terrorism, received an eight-year term. Four young Afghan accomplices were sentenced to terms ranging from one to five years; one of them burst into tears with the verdict.

Idema, who has a previous fraud conviction, claimed to have had high-level support from the Pentagon and Afghan officials in his group's efforts to hunt down terrorists, but the U.S. military says the men were freelancers operating outside the law and without its knowledge.

Judge Abdul Baset Bakhtyari dismissed a string of video clips showing Idema talking with Afghan leaders, purported U.S. intelligence officials and NATO troops and said they were operating alone.

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mercenaries deserve no less....

To sneak into a country on your on accord and arrest and torture..that makes no sense. Some people are demented. At least they were caught and justice has been served.

I do not welcome you here if you actually stand behind any element of the confederate battle flag.

my wonderful newspaper:



I have one question. If Iraqis were unhappy with Saddam Hussein, why didn't we see this level of resistance when he was in power?

Frederick Cleveland
Hollywood


Beautiful.