[JURIST] Afghan Judge Abul Basit Bakhitari has postponed the trial of Assadullah Sarwari [TrialWatch profile] for twenty days so that he may hire a lawyer. Sarwari, the former director of Afghanistan's intelligence service, faces charges stemming from his operation under the country's Soviet-supported communist regime [Wikipedia backgrounder] in 1979, where he allegedly killed and tortured regime opponents. Sarwari claims that he has no money to hire a lawyer, and Bakhitari called upon international organizations to provide a lawyer for Sarwari so that the war crimes trial [JURIST report], the first of its kind in Afghanistan, may continue. Xinhuanet has more.