http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/14/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-US-Prisoner.phpAmerican convicted of running private Afghan jail freed from prison, leaves Afghanistan
The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
KABUL, Afghanistan: A former American soldier convicted in Afghanistan for running a private jail and torturing terror suspects has left Afghanistan after three years in a Kabul prison, the warden said.
Jack Idema, a former Green Beret, was pardoned by President Hamid Karzai in late March as part of a general amnesty. Rahim Ahmadzai, Idema's Afghan lawyer, said Wednesday the American left the prison outside Kabul on June 2 and flew out of Afghanistan. He did not know Idema's destination.
Shamir, the warden of Policharki prison where Idema was held, said Idema had wanted to stay in Afghanistan but couldn't for legal reasons. Shamir, who like many Afghans goes by one name, said he transported Idema and his dog, Nina, to Kabul airport for the flight out.
"He wanted to stay in Afghanistan, but there was no way for him to stay," said Shamir.
Edward P. Birsner, the consul at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, said in court documents filed in Washington this week that Idema had left for "an unknown destination."
The documents were filed in a case in which Idema accused the FBI and State Department of ordering his torture and manipulating the Afghan judicial system.
Idema's U.S. attorney, John Tiffany, would not say where Idema flew to but said he does not believe he was in the United States.
"At some point, he'd like to come back to the United States," Tiffany said. "He's an American. He loves his country."
Idema was sentenced to 10 years in prison by a Kabul court in September 2004 on charges of entering Afghanistan illegally, making illegal arrests, establishing a private jail and torturing its inmates.
Two other Americans were also convicted. Brent Bennet was sentenced to 10 years but was released in September. Freelance cameraman Edward Caraballo was sentenced to eight years; he was released in April 2006.
Some of the Afghans Idema imprisoned claimed they were beaten and their heads held under water. However, Idema says he never mistreated prisoners and the prosecution offered scant evidence at his sometimes chaotic Kabul trial.
Idema, who claims to have fought with the Northern Alliance forces that toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001, has maintained that his activities in Afghanistan were sanctioned by the U.S. government.
The U.S. military acknowledges accepting prisoners from Idema in Afghanistan in 2004 and the separate NATO-led force there helped him with raids near Kabul.
However, the military soon denounced him as an impostor and he was arrested only a few months after entering the country.
A U.S. federal judge in April said the United States had to respond to a lawsuit by Idema alleging that the State Department and FBI illegally kept him imprisoned, directed his torture and destroyed evidence.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/14/asia/AS-GEN-Afghan-US-Prisoner.phpHe probably went to Iraq!
:nuke:
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
