Afghanistan Teaches Foreigners Hard Lesson

An Afghan police officer takes out the hand cuff of one of the four foreigners, Mike Shaw, British citizen, who were accused of gun- smuggling, at the courtroom before a trial in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Dec 7, 2005. An Afghan court convicted two Britons and an Indian on gun smuggling charges and gave them two-year suspended sentences following a one-day trial one of the men called a "circus." An American was cleared. (AP PHhoto/Musadeq Sadeq) (Musadeq Sadeq - AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Dozens of armed police burst into a Kabul guest house in October, arresting the stunned occupants. For an American, two Britons and an Indian, the raid began a trip through the Afghan justice system marked by violence, uncertainty and the possibility of years in prison.

After gun-smuggling charges, jail and a brief trial, the ordeal led Wednesday to acquittal for the American, suspended sentences for the others, and a look into the risks foreigners face in Afghanistan.

Prosecutors claimed the four were involved in a deal to sell 100 guns to an undercover police officer _ charges the accused said were baseless.

After a brief hearing Wednesday, an Afghan court released Sargon Heinrich of Rio Vista, Calif., saying that a pistol found in his room did not warrant prison. Peter Eaton and Mike Shaw of Britain and Naveen Joshi of India were given suspended sentences and credit for time served.

All four promised to return if the prosecution appealed.

In court, they described a raid that began as 40 men _ bristling with weapons but only half in uniform _ barged into the guest house where Heinrich, 40, and Eaton were staying.

"One of them punched me in the face, ripped the ID off my neck and ripped the telephone out of my hand," Eaton, 51, of Milford Haven in Wales, said as he stood on the dingy courtroom's worn carpet. Later, he said, he was taken outside and pushed against a wall at gunpoint.

Shaw, 46, of Sheffield, England, said he was repeatedly thrown against a wall and then ordered to the ground at gunpoint.

Joshi, a 33-year-old from Bombay, India, said he was beaten during the arrest and again when police took him to the home where he was staying to search for guns. One policeman held him by the hair while another hit him repeatedly, he said. At one point, an officer put a gun to his head and threatened to shoot him if he did not reveal where to find weapons, Joshi said.

Joshi said he signed a statement implicating himself and Eaton _ later retracted _ out of fear of further abuse.

Prosecutor Haji Balol told the court that police found five Kalashnikov rifles and two pistols at the guest house. He said that Joshi had provided the undercover police officer with a sample gun as part of the alleged illegal gun deal.

But after less than three hours of deliberation, chief judge Ansarullah Mawlawy Zada said his three-judge panel had decided that Eaton, Shaw and Joshi would be given time served and two-year suspended sentences. Heinrich was ordered released.