JURIST - Paper Chase: US soldier sentenced in Afghan abuse case, Karzai criticizes leniency

[JURIST] US soldier Glendale Wells was sentenced Wednesday to two months in prison by a military court for his role in abusing an Afghan detainee known as Dilawar [Wikipedia profile], who died in December 2002 at Bagram Control Point [Global Security profile] near Kabul. Wells earlier pleaded guilty [JURIST report] to slamming Dilawar against a wall and failing to intervene as other soldiers at Bagram abused the prisoner. The Afghan government says it is dismayed [BBC report] with what it calls the unexpected leniency shown to American soldiers convicted of abusing Afghan detainees. A spokesman for Afghan president Hamid Karzai says Wells and others should have been severely punished. This is the first custodial sentence given to any US soldier convicted of abuse in Afghanistan since 2001. BBC News has more.

For a one-stop snapshot of the latest legal news that matters, with breaking documents, new legal videos, live law-related webcasts, commentary by expert law professors and more - all updated through the day in real time, with no ads and no registration barriers - visit JURIST's homepage and check back often...