Afghan war crimes trial opens

The Communist regime in Afghanistan was overthrown in 1992

Two former Afghan military intelligence officials have gone on trial in The Hague, accused of human rights violations during the 1980s.

Both men, who deny the charges, were arrested in the Netherlands last year.

Dutch law allows the prosecution of asylum-seekers for war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in their homeland.

Human rights groups say that more than 200,000 Afghans were tortured by the secret service in the 1980s and 1990s.

Asylum denied

One of the men on trial, Heshamuddin Hesam, was the head of the military intelligence service under the Communist government in Afghanistan from 1983 to 1991.

The other man, Habibullah Jalalzoy, led an interrogation unit between 1979 and 1992.

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Afghanistan

The trial began on Monday with challenges from their lawyers over the admissibility of evidence and the role of the prosecutor, but the court rejected the submissions.

The two men arrived in the Netherlands during the 1990s, where they were later denied political asylum.

They are accused of human rights violations including execution and torture.