Germany charges former Afghan officer with war crimes

BERLIN – German prosecutors say they have charged a 26-year-old former officer in the Afghanistan military with war crimes on allegations he facilitated the abuse of prisoners in his care.

The federal prosecutor’s office said Monday that Ahmad Zaheer D., whose last name wasn’t given in line with German privacy laws, is accused of presiding over the interrogation of three prisoners at an unspecified time in Afghanistan.

While one soldier stood guard with an assault rifle, the suspect is alleged to have pulled one of the prisoners by the hair and punched him. Another soldier is alleged to have hit a prisoner with a plastic pipe and to have knocked another to the floor and beaten him.

The suspect was arrested Oct. 25 in an area east of Munich. Further details weren’t immediately available.