Trial delayed as US vigilantes deny charges of torture

THREE American vigilantes who ran their own counter-terror campaign in Afghanistan yesterday denied charges of torturing prisoners in a private jail and were given a week to bolster their defence with documents returned by the FBI.

The group’s leader, Jonathan Idema, accused the United States authorities of withholding hundreds of documents, photos 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 prison in a house in Kabul on 5 July. They face charges including hostage-taking and "mental and physical torture".

They face up to 20 years in jail if convicted.

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

Idema, a former US 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 under which he is being charged.

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

Abdul Baset Bakhtyari, the presiding judge, 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 200 videotapes, 500 pages of documents and more than 800 photos and given them to the 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 the US military and law enforcers.

A lawyer for Caraballo said American officials told him only late on Sunday that the material had been returned to the Afghan intelligence service.

"The FBI knew when the trial was," Michael Skibbie, an attorney, said. "It shows incredible disrespect for the Afghan justice system."

After deliberation with his two assistants, the judge adjourned the case for a week and said the court would look into Idema’s request for a translation of the indictment.

US embassy officials declined to comment on the proceedings.

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

The US 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.

At the first court hearing, on 21 July, some of the eight prisoners rescued from the group’s private jail alleged they had been beaten, deprived of food and doused in hot water.