- News>
- World
`British scribe could be released in a week`
A British woman journalist arrested by Afghanistan`s ruling Taliban militia for entering the country illegally will be held for a maximum of one week before being deported, her newspaper employer reported the Taliban foreign minister as saying.
A British woman journalist arrested by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia for entering the country illegally will be held for a maximum of one week before being deported, her newspaper employer reported the Taliban foreign minister as saying.
The Taliban said Saturday that it was questioning Sunday Express reporter Yvonne Ridley and hinted that she could be tried for spying. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted a Taliban official as saying Ridley was being held in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad and her case had been handed over to the Taliban intelligence department. "She will be dealt with under the country's law," the news agency quoted the official as saying. But according to the British Sunday newspaper, the Taliban's foreign minister Molvi Mutawakil had referred to Ridley's case, saying: "She will be held for a maximum of one week in prison and will then be released and deported." A Taliban diplomatic source in Peshawar, Pakistan, earlier said that Ridley had disguised herself underneath a burqa -- a cone-shaped all-covering garment -- to enter the country, and could have been spying.
"When someone enters Afghanistan like this, we become suspicious they are spies. This is being investigated," said the source, who declined to give his name. The charge of spying in Taliban-held Afghanistan carries the death penalty. According to Taliban officials, Ridley was arrested on Friday together with two guides some 15 km from the Pakistani border, near Jalalabad. She was not carrying a passport or a Taliban visa.
Ever since the crisis triggered by the September 11 attacks in the United States, the Taliban has barred nearly all foreign journalists from the areas of Afghanistan under its control, although many have entered the area occupied by opposition forces.
Bureau Report
The Taliban said Saturday that it was questioning Sunday Express reporter Yvonne Ridley and hinted that she could be tried for spying. The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted a Taliban official as saying Ridley was being held in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad and her case had been handed over to the Taliban intelligence department. "She will be dealt with under the country's law," the news agency quoted the official as saying. But according to the British Sunday newspaper, the Taliban's foreign minister Molvi Mutawakil had referred to Ridley's case, saying: "She will be held for a maximum of one week in prison and will then be released and deported." A Taliban diplomatic source in Peshawar, Pakistan, earlier said that Ridley had disguised herself underneath a burqa -- a cone-shaped all-covering garment -- to enter the country, and could have been spying.
"When someone enters Afghanistan like this, we become suspicious they are spies. This is being investigated," said the source, who declined to give his name. The charge of spying in Taliban-held Afghanistan carries the death penalty. According to Taliban officials, Ridley was arrested on Friday together with two guides some 15 km from the Pakistani border, near Jalalabad. She was not carrying a passport or a Taliban visa.
Ever since the crisis triggered by the September 11 attacks in the United States, the Taliban has barred nearly all foreign journalists from the areas of Afghanistan under its control, although many have entered the area occupied by opposition forces.
Bureau Report