**Three Americans have been jailed for up to 10 years for torturing Afghans and running a private jail in Kabul. Jonathan Idema and Brent Bennett were sentenced to 10 years in jail and Edward Caraballo eight years. **
Idema, who the US calls a bounty hunter, said his work had been approved by Afghan and US authorities. He told the court the FBI was setting him up.
Four Afghans working with the Americans were also found guilty and sentenced to between one and five years in jail.
The judge said the defendants, who were arrested in Kabul in July, had the right to appeal.
A lawyer for Idema, John Edwards Tiffany, said an appeal would be launched.
The BBC’s Andrew North in Kabul says the verdict was a sensational end to what has often been a sensational trial.
He says Idema, who claimed to have tracked down one hiding place of Osama Bin Laden, had failed to prove his actions had been sanctioned by Washington.
**Idema had taken the stand on Wednesday and was applauded from the public gallery as he swore “in the name of Allah to tell the truth and nothing but the truth”. **
**The prosecutor, Mohammed Naim Dawarty, accused the defendants of opening private cells, abducting and torturing Afghan people and seizing their property. **
He said their activities “have created distress of the people of Afghanistan, the government and the United States”.
The Pentagon denies any ties with the men.
The three defendants were arrested when Afghan security forces raided a house in Kabul being used as a private jail and containing eight Afghan prisoners.
US vigilantes convicted in Kabul
Boy 10 years in afghan jails boy now that is what you call hard time!
the only catch i can see is the appeal which will be another word for Bribe!
The pentagon yet again denies any links with these crooks what a surprise yawn yawn heard that one about million times b4! :yawn: