Arrested UK journalist can be tried for spying
PESHAWAR- Pakistan: Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia said it was questioning a British female journalist, arrested for entering the country illegally and hinted that she could be tried for spying.
The Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press quoted a Taliban official as saying on Sunday Express reporter Yvonne 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.
A Taliban diplomatic source told 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.
“This is very serious incident and the investigation could take some time,” the source said. But he asserted she would be well treated.
“In Afghanistan our women have their full human rights, and their dignity is protected.” According to Taliban officials, Ridley was arrested together with two guides some 15 kilometres (nine miles) 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.
The fundamentalist regime has also stopped issuing visas to foreigners.
The Tailban has been threatened with US military strikes unless it hands over Osama bin Laden – the Saudi-born militant blamed by the United States for the attacks in New York and Washington.
The UN secretary general’s special envoy to Afghanistan, Francesc Vendrell, said releasing Ridley swiftly would be in the Taliban’s best interests. “I imagine she will be released quite soon.” “She entered the country illegally so she was running a risk.
But I very much hope that she is going to he quickly released by the Taliban. “It would be very much in their interest if they do that.”
In London, British junior foreign minister Ben Bradshaw asked that Ridley be “treated well” and released as soon as possible.
“We are doing what we can in an extremely difficult situation,” Bradshaw said on Saturday. “The Taliban don’t have a record, of adhering to international norms and I wouldn’t put anything past them,”
Source: The News
Date:9/30/2001
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