Caroline Hawleydiplomatic correspondent and
Freya Chappell
ReutersA British couple launched by the Taliban in Afghanistan final week say they had been detained in 10 totally different prisons and at one level thought they’d be executed.
Peter, 80, and spouse Barbie Reynolds, 76, mentioned it was by no means defined to them why they had been being held, nor why they had been launched.
The couple, who’ve run a charity programme in Afghanistan for nearly 20 years, arrived again within the UK on Saturday after seven and a half months in detention.
“Good, old school diplomacy” ended their ordeal, Hamish Falconer, minister for the Center East, instructed the BBC, and once more thanked the federal government of Qatar, which helped mediate their launch.
Each suffered well being issues whereas in jail, together with extreme anaemia. Taliban officers maintained they obtained enough medical care throughout their detention and that their human rights had been revered.
They had been arrested on 1 February this yr after taking a chartered flight from Kabul to Bamiyan province, along with friend Faye Hall and their translator who were later released.
A spokesperson for the Taliban overseas ministry, talking after their launch, mentioned that they had “served their time” however didn’t reveal the explanations for his or her detention.
“We’ve lots to course of,” Peter Reynolds mentioned in written remarks despatched to the BBC. “We’re forsaking high quality individuals, our dwelling, and all our possessions.”
The couple have a deep love of Afghanistan, and had been married there in 1970.
Since 2009, the couple have been working coaching tasks in Kabul and Bamiyan.
One in all their schooling tasks concerned coaching girls and youngsters, and had apparently been permitted by native authorities, regardless of a Taliban ban on girls working and schooling for women over 12-years-old.
Household handoutOne of many prisons Peter and Barbie had been held in was Pul-e-Charkhi, a infamous most safety jail outdoors Kabul that’s home to some of the most dangerous criminals.
At one level they had been held in basement cells with no home windows for 2 months. For the ultimate weeks of their detention they had been moved above floor, the place they are saying that they had entry to higher meals and had been handled with kindness.
Peter and Barbie had been taken to courtroom round 4 occasions, every time there was no cost.
“After I was taken to courtroom, I had my ankles and arms cuffed along with murderers and rapists,” Peter mentioned through electronic mail.
In addition they say they’re “mystified” by their detention, with Mr Reynolds including that they had been each principally handled with respect however felt “an enormous powerlessness”.
He provides: “We had been instructed we had been visitors. Nonetheless, once I was taken to courtroom, I had my ankles and arms cuffed along with murderers and rapists.”
For his spouse Barbara, the hardest time of her captivity was “seeing my 80-year outdated husband struggling to get into the again of a police truck along with his arms and ankles chained.”
“The worst second was being led away and being separated as a pair after 55 years of marriage to my greatest good friend,” Mr Reynolds remembers.
Again within the UK, after practically eight months of “oily and salty” jail meals, Barbie instructed the Sunday Occasions she wish to have some salad and marmite, whereas Peter was hankering for baked beans.
Peter and Barbie mentioned they will not be returning to Afghanistan for now.
“We’re assured within the many great Afghans we all know to carry a few optimistic future for his or her nation with out us,” they mentioned.
The UK now not has an embassy in Afghanistan and warns in opposition to all journey to the nation, saying it’s “extraordinarily harmful.”
In line with the International Workplace: “There’s a heightened danger of British nationals being detained in Afghanistan. In case you are a British nationwide and you might be detained in Afghanistan, you could possibly face months or years of imprisonment.”
