Zardad Khan
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Zardad Khan (born c. 1963) (aka Zardad Faryadi Sarwar and Commander Zardad) was an Afghan warlord accused of waging a campaign of murder, abductions and torture in Afghanistan. He was arrested in London on July 14, 2003 by agents of the Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist branch. The following day he was formally charged with 16 offenses relating to his time as a military commander during the Afghan civil war in the early 1990s. He pleaded not guilty to each charge and is currently in custody. His trial began October 8, 2004.
He was originally arrested May 10, 2003, but was released on bail.
Khan entered London in 2000 and ran a pizza parlor in Bexleyheath. He had applied for asylum.
From December 31, 1991 to September 30, 1996, Khan and his men controlled the town of Sarobi, Afghanistan, one of the major routes from Jalalabad into Kabul. An example of Khan's brutality is given in the alleged story that one of his lieutenants, Abdullah Shah (aka "the human dog"), was used to bite prisoners. Large, hairy and uneducated, he was kept in a cave with a chain around his neck by Khan.
He is charged with nine counts under section 134 (1) of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 that, as a military commander in the Sarobi region of Afghanistan, he tortured or gave orders for torture to be carried out as part of his official duties. Note: This marks the first time the international convention on torture has been used in a prosecution.
He faces five counts under section 1(1) of the Taking of Hostages Act 1982, that he detained a hostage and held them to ransom, threatening them with death if money was not forthcoming.
He is charged with one count under section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 that he plotted with others to carry out or order torture.
He is further charged under section 1(1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977 that he plotted with others to take a hostage.
The Trial
An international convention and English law allow for anyone who has allegedly committed torture or hostage-taking to be tried in England, irrespective of where those crimes were committed.
Khan was accused of conspiracy to torture and conspiracy to take hostages between December 31, 1991 and September 30, 1996. Kahn denied the charges. The presiding judge was Justice Treacy. Khan's counsel was Anthony Jennings.
The first witness was Abdul Ghafour, the son of an Afghanistan Ministry of Information and Culture official during the 1990s. He said he was stopped at a checkpoint by men with covered faces and sunglasses and was taken to a container nearby. Inside the container was a metal chair to which he was tied. After being asked questions, he was tortured. Ghafour then showed the scars on his knee and wrists.
Kahn denied that he had told a British police officer that he attended a 15-day training camp involving AK47s, rocket launchers, bombs, mortars and anti-aircraft guns.
External link
- Some firsthand accounts by Afghanis of Zardad Khan's activities (http://rawa.fancymarketing.net/zardad-5.htm)