The Seventh Circle: Surviving Seven Years in Afghanistan's Most Notorious Prison

Rob Langdon is a former Australian soldier who worked as a security contractor in Afghanistan and was found guilty of the murder of an Afghan colleague in 2009 and sentenced to death in a case that would have been ruled a clear miscarriage of justice in our legal system. His death sentence was commuted to 20 years in jail, and he served his time in Kabul's most notorious prison, Pul-e-Charkhi, described as the world's worst place to be a westerner, a sentence that was at the time acknowledged to be worse than execution. Rob was there for seven years, the longest sentence by a westerner since the fall of the Taliban, and every one of those two and half thousand days was an act of extraordinary survival in a jail run from the inside by the Taliban and filled with Afghanistan's most dangerous extremists and murderers. Two weeks ago Rob was pardoned and released to return to Adelaide. He's given no interviews since his release. This book will be the first time he talks about his experiences.



About the Author :
Robert Langdon grew up on Billa Kalina Station in the South Australian outback. In 1989 he joined the Australian Army where he served for 15 years before transferring to the Army Reserves. He served as a Section Commander on Operation Plumbob to the Solomon Islands in 1999 and Operation Lorosae in East Timor in 2000. Robert was awarded the Australian Active Service Medal with East Timor clasp, the Infantry Combat Badge and the United Nations Medal for his service overseas.

In 2004 he began work as a private security contractor in Iraq and Afghanistan and worked with the US Army, civilian contractors and in medical evacuations. In 2008, Robert was employed in Afghanistan by the U.S. company, The Four Horsemen International. His job was to supervise security operations for the company on such tasks as guarding food and supply convoys, and medical relief expeditions.

In June 2009, Robert was sent out to assist a convoy which had recently been attacked by the Taliban. He became involved in an incident with a fellow Afghan security contractor, a man by the name of Karim. Robert was concerned because Karim wished to keep the convoy stationery in an isolated area at night, an action which Robert considered dangerous. When Robert approached Karim to discuss the matter, the Afghan National drew his gun on him and Robert shot him in self defence.

At all times, Robert believed he was about to be killed and has maintained that he only fired in self defence. Robert was subsequently arrested and charged with murder and was brought before an Afghan court. The first court hearing was very brief, and Robert understood this only to be a discussion about the matter. Two weeks later, on the 27 October 2009, he was brought back before the courts and in under two minutes, with no discussion of the statements, no witnesses being called and not being asked to give evidence, Robert was sentenced to death.