Ex-para denies part in kidnap and torture case (From The Northern Echo)

Ex-para denies part in kidnap and torture case

11:22am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Crime News By Graeme Hetherington

AN ex-paratrooper from the North-East has denied taking part in a nine-hour kidnap and torture of two brothers, a court has heard.

Anthony Malone was held prisoner in Afghanistan for more than two years before becoming the first man to be extradited from the war torn country to face trial in the UK.

The former Red Beret was arrested and jailed at Poli Charki prison, Kabul, in January 2008.

He was held there for two years and nine months after being convicted of bribing an Afghan official before his extradition in late 2010.

Snaresbrook Crown Court, in north London, was told that Mr Malone, 39, originally from Billingham, near Stockton, inflicted the alleged kidnap and torture ordeal on two business rivals before fleeing to Afghanistan in 2007.

Brothers Mohammed and Haq Nawaz were tied up, beaten, hooded and humiliated after they were lured to the offices of property investor Sanjeev Dhir, 37, in Stoke Newington, north London, it is claimed.

The ex-soldier allegedly abducted them with Mr Dhir and 40- year-old Ranjit Gojra in a row over a £1.9m property deal.

The court heard how teetotal Mohammed Nawaz, 34, was tied to a chair, stripped of his trousers and doused in alcohol as an insult.

A blow torch was held to his face and he was hit across the legs with a hammer, then the brothers were locked in a van and taken on a terrifying ride across London, onto the M1 and around the M25.

Mohammed was subjected to a “mock execution” in which he was made to kneel on the ground and had a metal object pressed against his neck, it was said.

The brothers were later dumped in the Chelsea area in the early hours of April 21, 2007.

Giving evidence, Mr Malone told of the difficulties he faced as the only westerner among more than 4,000 inmates in the Afghan prison.

He said: “The conditions in Poli Charki prison are difficult to put into words. Imagine walking through the gates of hell and you’re about half-way there.

“It’s the worst place you could possibly be. One British person, former soldier, with about 4,000 convicted members of the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

“At first I was in solitary confinement because they didn’t know what to do with me, then I was placed in a cell about the size of the jury box with another 20 or 30 people.”

Mr Malone, of no fixed address, Mr Dhir, of Rainham, Essex, and Mr Gojra, of Belvedere, Kent, all deny two counts of actual bodily harm, two of false imprisonment and two of kidnapping.

The trial continues.