Dutch prosecutors seek 12-year sentence for Afghan suspect

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch prosecutors have urged judges to impose a 12-year prison sentence on a 76-year-old Afghan man they accuse of involvement in war crimes in a Kabul prison in the 1980s. The suspect, identified as Abdul Razzaq Rafief, told judges his prosecution was a case of mistaken identity. Police believe his surname when he lived in Afghanistan was Arief. Dutch war crimes prosecutors are convinced they have the right man after interviewing about 25 witnesses around the world and tapping the phones of the suspect and his family before arresting him at his home in the southern Dutch city of Kerkrade in 2019. Prosecutors said Thursday that the “punishment must be an effective warning to perpetrators of international crimes.”