An Afghan militia leader who fled to Britain to escape the Taliban will be sentenced today after being convicted in a ground-breaking trial. Faryadi Sarwar Zardad, 42, was found guilty of carrying out a “cruel and merciless” campaign of torture, killing and hostage-taking in Afghanistan 10 years ago. Zardad was said to have kept a “human dog” at a checkpoint which savaged victims on his command. In the first trial of its kind under the UN torture convention, Zardad was prosecuted in Britain even though he is not British and the offences he committed were carried out in Afghanistan.