Three Americans on trial in Afghanistan for illegally imprisoning and torturing Afghans have appealed to the US ambassador in Kabul to intervene in the case, lawyers for two of them said yesterday.

One of the men, Jonathan “Jack” Idema, has said his actions were sanctioned by the US Defense Department, the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency and that they had denied links with him due to embarrassment over the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq.

Idema, a former Green Beret, is on trial with Brett Bennett and Ed Caraballo. Bennett is another ex-soldier and Caraballo an Emmy award-winning cameraman who was making a documentary. The men face up to

20 years in jail if convicted.

They complained that evidence had been withheld from the defence and that the accused had never received proper translations of the charges against them.

They told reporters they had met the prosecutors on Sept. 1, who said they would have no objection to the charges being dropped if the US ambassador made such a request.

The lawyers said they had written to ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad on Sept. 2 requesting his intervention. “We are awaiting his response,” they said in a statement.

A spokeswoman for the US embassy said she could not comment as she was unaware of the facts but would look into the matter.

Asked whether the letter had suggested a deal in which allegations of official sanction for the men’s activity would be dropped, Fogelnest replied: “We are not prepared at this time to discuss what the contents of our letter to the ambassador was.” “I think at this point the matter is in the hands of the American ambassador. If he makes the request, we have every reason to believe it will be honoured.” The trial is due to resume on Sunday.

The lawyers provided journalists with videotapes showing the three men arriving at Kabul airport and shaking hands with Baba Jan, the police chief who later arrested them – proof, they said, that they had not entered the country illegally.

<B>Part of a plot to kill Yunus Qanuni</B>

They said the video, shot by Caraballo, also showed the interrogation of Ghulam Sakhi, brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden’s former head of security, named Daud.

Fogelnest said that in response to an offer to be relocated to the United States, Ghulam Sakhi agreed to have an electronic device implanted in him that would lead to his brother-in-law.

“So one might conclude that if you have an informant who’s brother-in-law was the chief of security for Osama bin Laden, who is now working for you, it’s not unreasonable to claim that you were very close and hot on the trail of Osama bin Laden,” Fogelnest said.

The lawyers said Sakhi had confessed to being part of a plot to kill former government minister Yunus Qanuni and Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim and to attack the US air base at Bagram to the north of Kabul.

Sakhi was detained for a week by Afghan security forces after being found in Idema’s custody and has testified that he was tortured while being held by Idema. Fogelnest complained that Sakhi has not been made available for defence questioning.

Idema has said he has been tortured in jail and Fogelnest said his client had bruises consistent with being beaten on the soles of the feet. He said the men were being held in very poor sanitary conditions and were living six to a small cell.

<B>Officially approved</B>

The defence has already shown the court a video of Qanuni, now a presidential candidate and then a National Security Council member, praising the accused, as a way to demonstrate that their activities were officially approved.

In the video, Qanuni congratulates Idema and offers to provide him with Afghan security officers to work with his team.

Idema has said he has video showing him turning over prisoners to senior officers at Bagram and being congratulated by intelligence agents, stored on a computer in the United States.

He said he had twice confirmed meeting places of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and carried out surveillance on his deputy, Ayman al Zawahri, in Iran. He said he had passed the details to the FBI and Defense Department but they arrived too late.

Idema and his colleagues were arrested on July 5 after a brief shootout in Kabul. Four Afghans are co-defendants.

<B>David Brunnstrom</B>