Sharon forwards me this, from Bloomberg...
An Afghan warlord accused of murder, abduction and torture in his homeland has been arrested in London by Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism police, the U.K.'s Independent newspaper said today. A police spokeswoman, when asked in a telephone interview about the case of Zardad Khan, said only that ``the anti-terrorism branch rearrested a 40-year-old man'' on Monday, suspecting him of ``serious crimes.'' The man had previously been arrested on May 10, 2002, by the anti-terrorism branch, also on allegations of ``serious crimes,'' and released on bail pending a court appearance next month. Khan is being held at a London police station while officials decide whether to charge him under a law based on an international convention banning torture. Khan's latest arrest followed the return of detectives who traveled to Afghanistan to gather evidence against him. People traveled hundreds of miles to speak to the detectives about Khan while they were in Afghanistan, the Independent said. Khan, who runs a London pizza parlor, has been living in the U.K. for three years and has applied for asylum. In his asylum application, he denies being a commander of Afghan fighters and says the ousted Taliban regime has tried to kill him.
| But that's not political. It's just because nobody likes him. One of his henchmen got Afghanistan's first death sentence (official death sentence, since the Taliban were thrown out, anyway) last September, for bumping off three of his wives and five of his kids. And Zardan was the cruel one... |
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