Americans found guilty in Afghan prison trial (from ATSNN), page 1

Three Americans - Jonathan Keith Idema, Brent Bennett and Edward Caraballo were found guilty of running a private prison. The three were found to be guilty in an Afgan courtroom. The three illegally detained suspected Islamic militants. The men now face up to 10 years in jail.

Did the U.S. abandon them?

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They had denied the charges and insisted they were in Afghanistan with U.S. and Afghan government sanction to help track down al-Qaida and Taliban extremists.

�I apologize that we tried to save these people,� Idema told reporters immediately after the verdict. �We should have let the Taliban murder every ... one of them,� he said bitterly.

Idema and Bennett were each sentenced to 10 years in jail and Caraballo to eight. Four Afghan co-defendants received sentences ranging from one to five years.

Afghan authorities said Idema had entered the country illegally, was running a private prison, had tortured and illegally detained Afghans and had harmed relations between Afghanistan and the U.S.

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Idema told the court room that he was issued with a passport and a visa similar to those given to special forces operatives. He did not say who had issues it.

During the trial they were under an oath on the Quran. Idema kept with his story. He swears that he was operating with official U.S. and Afghan sanction.

Other media have reported that Idema saw himself as a bounty hunter, and was after the fortune U.S. authorities have placed on Osama bin Laden�s head.

Idema says he was set up. After the trial he commented that the U.S. government abandoned him and the others, once they heard the word "torture".

Idema says that he was working with the U.S., claiming to have been in contact with officials working for U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and gathering intelligence in the hunt for bin Laden and other al Qaeda officials, who are rumored to be hiding in the Afgan-Pakistan border.

The Pentagon said he was lying.

[edit on 15-9-2004 by MacKiller]