Paris, Jan 14: Two French reporters who were
allowed to leave Pakistan after being put on trial there for
visa violations arrived home in Paris today.
Marc Epstein and Jean-Paul Guilloteau, reporters for
the weekly magazine l'Express, had been arrested on December
16 for violating their journalist's visas by travelling to
the south-western city of Quetta near the Afghan border.
Arriving at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport on a
flight from Karachi they said they were happy to be home, and
had not been mistreated in Pakistan, but were worried about
the fate of their Pakistani translator Khawar Mehdi Rizwi,
who had been arrested with them.
After the pair were greeted by colleagues and family
members, Epstein said, "What worries us today is the fate of
our colleague and friend Khawar Mehdi Rizwi, of whom we have
had no news for a month now. We don't know where he is."
He also thanked the French foreign ministry for
acting to help the two return home. Last Saturday a Pakistani
court had sentenced them to six month jail terms and fines,
but a higher court later allowed them to leave the country,
although it did not overturn the sentences.
The pair had said they had gone to Quetta to
investigate the possible presence of fighters loyal to the
Islamic Taliban regime, which ruled Afghanistan and sheltered
al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden until its ouster by US-led
forces in late 2001.
Bureau Report
