Dutch court rejects ex-Afghan secret cops appeal
Source: Reuters
AMSTERDAM, Jan 29 (Reuters) - The Dutch appeal court on Monday upheld jail sentences against two former top Afghan secret policemen convicted of war crimes and torturing opponents of Afghanistan's communist government during the 1980s. Hesamuddin Hesam and Habibullah Jalalzoy had appealed against jail terms of 12 and nine years respectively, imposed in 2005 by a lower court. Hesam, the former head of the Khad secret police between 1983 and 1991, and Jalalzoy, the organisation's one-time head of interrogation, were arrested in 2004. They had been living in the Netherlands for several years, despite having their asylum applications rejected. Afghanistan was ruled by Soviet-backed President Najibullah and his Khad secret military police in the 1980s. He was ousted in 1992 after a 14-year civil war by Islamic mujahideen guerrillas. Dutch prosecutors estimated 200,000 political opponents were tortured by various branches of the Afghan security apparatus under communist rule and that about 50,000 died. "It has been proven that one of (Jalalzoy's) victims was beaten and that a toe nail was pulled out. In addition, electrical wires were attached to the victim, after which current was applied to him through these wires," the Hague-based appeal court said in a statement. It also said Hesam had allowed his subordinates to commit acts that caused serious physical injury to people. Under Dutch law, foreign nationals resident in the Netherlands can be prosecuted for war crimes committed abroad. The Netherlands, home to several international courts, secured its first conviction for war crimes in a domestic court in 2005, when a former colonel in the Rwandan army was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail for torture.
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