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Last Updated: Thursday, 25 August 2005, 07:26 GMT 08:26 UK
Afghan abuse sentence 'lenient'
Afghan prisoner and US soldier
Human Rights Watch says the sentence is too lenient
The Afghanistan government has said it is disappointed by the punishment given to American troops convicted of abusing two Afghan detainees who later died.

The government has said the two soldiers - sentenced up to three months in prison - had been shown unexpected leniency.

These were the first judicial sentences given to any US soldier convicted of abuse in Afghanistan since 2001.


A spokesman for the Afghan president Hamid Karzai said the soldiers should have been severely punished.

One soldier has been sentenced to two months in prison, another to three months.


"The punishments given to those soldiers were very light and unexpectedly lenient, presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi told the Associated Press.

"This is a very serious issue. They should receive severe punishments."

He said the government was planning to take up the matter with US authorities.

A member of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission also criticised the sentences.

"These punishments are a joke. They all should have got 20 years in prison or be sentenced to death," Ahmad Shah Midad told Associated Press.

"A person's life has been taken. They must be punished properly."


Repeated beatings

Specialist Glendale Wells pleaded guilty at a military court of pushing a detainee known as Dilawar against a wall. He also admitted doing nothing to prevent other soldiers at the US base at Bagram from abusing him.


US soldier and helicopter in Afghanistan
A leaked New York Times report in May highlighted abuses








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