AP: Americans arrested in Kabul hung prisoners by feet in private jail, officials say

"Three Americans arrested in Afghanistan were on a self-appointed counterterrorism mission that included abusing eight inmates in a private jail by hanging them by their feet, Afghan officials said Thursday.
The U.S. Embassy identified one of the men detained Monday in a raid in Kabul as Jonathan K. Idema, a purported former Green Beret who claims to have links with Afghan militia forces.
The American military has warned that Idema had been posing as a U.S. military or government employee.
Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said the three men had, along with four other Afghans arrested Monday, ''formed a group and pretended they were fighting terrorism.''
''They arrested eight people from across Kabul and put them in their jail,'' Jalali said at a news conference.
Another Afghan security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said intelligence and police officials found the prisoners hung by their feet.
''They were hanging upside down,'' the official said on condition of anonymity. The official said reports on the case showed that the men were beaten, though he had no details.
Jalali said the eight were released. They weren't identified.
Jalali described the group as ''rebels'' with no ''legal link'' to any Afghan or other authorities.
Still, the intelligence official said the three foreigners were wearing uniforms that appeared to be from the U.S. military and were armed with assault rifles.
Idema, described in media reports as an ex-special forces soldier in his 40s, cropped up in Afghanistan in late 2001 when U.S. and allied Afghan forces routed the Taliban.
He offered his services to Western TV networks, including a videotape showing a purported al-Qaida training facility near Kabul, and later featured in a top-selling book called ''The Hunt for Osama bin Laden.''. . ."

(courtesy of d)