American sentenced in Afghanistan

Blogger eats post. American Jonathan Idema, has been sentenced by an Afghani court to ten years in prison for running a private jail and torturing Afghani's.

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.

Idema said after the trial: "I apologise that we tried to save these people... We should have let the Taleban murder every... one of them."

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.

Chaotic

Lawyers for the American defendants had called for the charges to be thrown out, arguing that the Afghan legal system was not fit to try them.

The defendants denied charges of kidnapping, torture and illegal entry into Afghanistan.

Idema a "former Green Beret" claimed that he had been working at the behest of Washington. The Government has disavowed any relationship with Idema and say that he was operating on his own.