[Tolo News] The deportation of Commander Zardad Faryadi from the United Kingdom to Afghanistan on December 14, poses a clear danger for witnesses who testified against the former warlord in his 2005 conviction for torture and hostage taking, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a statement on Friday. The watchdog called on the UK government to take immediate measures to protect witnesses, including by expediting asylum procedures and relocation outside Afghanistan.
The organization called on the Afghan government to impose parole restrictions on Zardad and the UK and Afghan authorities should scrupulously monitor his compliance in order to protect those witnesses who remain in Afghanistan.
"Zardad’s trial and conviction in the UK was a landmark case ‐ demonstrating that torturers cannot find safe haven by fleeing to another country," said Patricia Gossman, senior researcher on Afghanistan at Human Rights Watch. "But by failing to take measures to protect witnesses, the UK government risks betraying those who made that conviction possible. They owe it to them to take immediate steps to protect those most at risk."
"Those who testified at Zardad’s trial have expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
s for the safety of witnesses and their families. Some witnesses learned of Zardad’s imminent arrival only days before he returned," she said.
According to the statement, Zardad, who was prosecuted by UK authorities under English law implementing the Convention against Torture, for the crimes of hostage taking and torture committed in Afghanistan in the 1990s, was recently paroled after serving 11 years of a 20-year prison sentence. He arrived in Kabul
...the capital of Afghanistan. Home to continuous fighting from 1992 to 1996 between the forces of would-be strongman and Pak ISI/Jamaat-e-Islami sock puppet Gulbuddin Hekmayar and the Northern Alliance, a period which won Hek the title
Most Evil Man in the Worldand didn't do much for the reputations of the Northern Alliance guys either....
on December 14, and was reportedly taken into custody by the National Directorate of Security
...the Afghan national intel agency...
(NDS). A crowd of supporters, at least one armed, assembled inside the security perimeter of the airport carrying signs welcoming him home as a hero.
"Relocation of witnesses outside the country is likely to be the only way to protect those most at risk of reprisals," Gossman added.