A former Afghan intelligence chief has been sentenced to death for ordering hundreds of killings during the communist era in the late 1970s, BBC Online reports Saturday.
Asadullah Sarwari had denied the charge and said he would appeal against the verdict passed in a Kabul court.
Sarwari, 64, headed the intelligence department set up under the communist government in 1978. He was arrested 13 years ago but not tried until 2005. His sentence is the first to be passed for war crimes in Afghanistan.
Relatives of those who were killed or went missing when Sarwari was in charge also attended the trial. The judgement drew applause from around the courtroom.
Following the collapse of the communist government in 1992, Sarwari was held in prison until his trial began last December.
– The government at the time was like a machine and I was just a part of the machine, Sarwari told the court. During the communist rule, thousands of people were killed and tortured for opposing the regime.
