UK criticised for failing to inform warlord’s victims of his release

KABUL AFP Dec15, 2016   
Human rights campaigners Thursday demanded that Britain provide protection for Afghan witnesses who helped jail a fearsome warlord in a landmark trial, after he was unexpectedly returned to the conflict-torn country.   

Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, infamous for keeping a “human dog” that savaged victims on his command, was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to 20 years in prison for hostage-taking and torture during the Afghan civil war in the 1990s.   

He arrived in Kabul on Wednesday after being deported from Britain following his early release from jail.   

Human Rights Watch voiced concern he would seek revenge from the Afghans who testified against him, mostly via videolink, some of whom were not informed about his release.   

 “In deporting Zardad, and failing to take measures to protect witnesses, the UK has betrayed those who made that conviction possible,” Patricia Gossman, a senior Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch told AFP.