An Afghan warlord found guilty by a British court of torture and hostage taking during fighting in Afghanistan a decade ago is due to be sentenced today.

It is believed to be the first case of a foreign national tried in Britain involving human rights violations committed abroad. It also featured witnesses giving evidence anonymously via a satellite link.

Farayadi Sarwar Zardad was found guilty yesterday of atrocities against civilians in the early and mid-1990s, when he commanded an 80-kilometer area of territory east of Kabul. Zardad reportedly controlled a highway between the Afghan capital Kabul and the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Zardad moved to Britain in 1998 seeking asylum and was running a pizza parlor in south London when he was arrested by antiterrorism police in 2002

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Kabul City.