JURIST - Paper Chase: Americans accused of running illegal jail in Afghanistan appear in court

Three Americans arrested in Afghanistan and accused of operating an illegal jail have also been charged with robbing, beating and torturing their detainees. During a preliminary hearing in Kabul, one of the men, former member of the US special forces Jack Idema, said that he had been working for a secret counterterrorist unit directly responsible to the Pentagon and indicated that he intended to call high-level Afghan officials, generals, corps commanders and ambassadors in his defense. A spokesman for the Afghan president said that a preliminary investigation showed that the three men were acting outside the law, saying "for example they imprisoned some people, which is against the law, and also our investigation has shown that these men had no connection with officials inside or outside of Afghanistan." Monday's New York Times has the full story. The US State Department has said that the trio were operating outside Washington's command. BBC News has more.

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