Seven arrested over Afghan 'private jail'

London Guardian | July 8 2004

Afghan security forces have arrested three Americans and four Afghans after a shootout in Kabul and accused them of illegally detaining and interrogating locals, security officials said yesterday.

A US embassy spokesman identified one of the Americans as Jonathan K Idema, who the US military says has misrepresented himself in the past as a US official.

Police said small-arms fire had been exchanged during the raid on the illegal jail in the Karteh Parwan district of Kabul on Monday, but there were no injuries.

A senior Afghan intelligence official said the suspects had been using a private house to detain local people. Police said several bearded Afghans, apparently detained by the group, had been found in the house. Members of the group detaining them were wearing military uniforms.

A US embassy spokesman, Roy Glover, said he understood three of the men had identified themselves as Americans, including Mr Idema.

An Afghan journalist working for a US television network said a man he knew as Mr Idema had tried to sell what the American described as al-Qaida training videos to US networks.

The US, which overthrew the former Taliban regime in late 2001, leads a 20,000-strong force in Afghanistan, pursuing Taliban, al-Qaida and allied Islamist militants.

Earlier yesterday the US military said it had completed a review of conditions in its detention centres in the country.