KABUL, Jan. 31 (Xinhuanet) -- A court in Afghanistan on Tuesday postponed the trial of former intelligence chief Assadullah Sarwari for 20 days in order to allow him to hire a lawyer.

    "I am calling on international organizations to provide a lawyer to Mr. Sarwari," president judge Abdul Basit Bakhtiari toldthe audience gathered at the court.

    Sarwari, who served as director of Afghanistan's intelligence service in 1979 for a Moscow-backed regime, has been accused of killing and torturing hundreds of the then regime's opponents.

    His trial was postponed last month.

    Sarwari said that he could not hire a lawyer, as he did not have enough money.

    Over a dozen people also gathered at the promises of the court claiming that their fathers and brothers had been executed on Sarwari's order, while the accused rejected the allegations saying he had served the country's interests.

    Two other former intelligence officers have been put on trial and sentenced to jail by a court in Holland last year. Enditem