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Taliban to Try Foreign Aid Workers
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said Wednesday that it will put eight foreign aid workers on trial for charges of preaching Christianity in the Muslim nation.
The eight workers ? two Americans, four Germans and two Australians ? have been jailed for more than three weeks.
Sixteen Afghans were also arrested along with the members of the German-based Christian organization, Shelter Now International.
According to Taliban law, the penalty for foreigners caught preaching Christianity is three to 10 days in jail and expulsion. The penalty for an Afghan who converts to Christianity is death.*
"After the investigation is completed, the case will go to court and the court will decide according to Shariat," or Islamic law, Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told the Taliban's official Bakhtar News Agency.
There was no indication of when the probe would be finished.
Bakhtar News Agency quoted Muttawakil as saying the court ruling will be sent to the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, who has final say in all matters in Afghanistan.
Diplomats from the United States, Germany and Australia have been meeting Taliban foreign ministry officials to try to find out when an investigation will be completed into the charges that the aid workers were proselytizing.
The diplomats, who had been denied access to the detainees last week, said the atmosphere seems different now.
"They have engaged us with talks, which is something they were not doing last time," Helmut Landes, consular officer at the German Embassy in neighboring Pakistan, said of the Taliban on Tuesday. "We saw the detainees as soon as we arrived. This is all very positive."
The International Red Cross on Wednesday delivered a stack of woolen blankets to the detained aid workers at the Reform School, where they are being held in the heart of Kabul.
The Reform School is a sprawling, compound filled with trees where delinquent children, many of them arrested for begging and scavenging, are held.
The Red Cross truck delivered 24 blankets apparently for the eight foreigners and 16 Afghan staff of Shelter Now International, who were arrested more than three weeks ago.
The aid organization has reportedly been operating in Afghanistan since 1993, prior to the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 1996. It operates in several provinces, but the Taliban have shut down all its projects since the arrests in Kabul.
It was expected that the parents of two jailed American women ? Dana Curry and Heather Mercer ? would be allowed to see their children again Wednesday.
On Monday, Mercer's father, John Mercer, and Curry's mother, who did not want to give her name, saw the two women, who are believed to be single and in their 20s. The meeting came hours after the parents arrived in the Afghan capital.
Since then, the parents have been confined to the U.N. guest house, where they are pacing the grounds, watching television and waiting to hear when they can next visit their daughters. The parents have avoided talking to the media and have refused to give any personal details, including information about their hometowns.
The other six aid workers being held have been identified by Taliban as four Germans ? Margrit Stebnar, George Taubmann, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf ? and two Australians ? Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
* emphasis added
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia said Wednesday that it will put eight foreign aid workers on trial for charges of preaching Christianity in the Muslim nation.
The eight workers ? two Americans, four Germans and two Australians ? have been jailed for more than three weeks.
Sixteen Afghans were also arrested along with the members of the German-based Christian organization, Shelter Now International.
According to Taliban law, the penalty for foreigners caught preaching Christianity is three to 10 days in jail and expulsion. The penalty for an Afghan who converts to Christianity is death.*
"After the investigation is completed, the case will go to court and the court will decide according to Shariat," or Islamic law, Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil told the Taliban's official Bakhtar News Agency.
There was no indication of when the probe would be finished.
Bakhtar News Agency quoted Muttawakil as saying the court ruling will be sent to the Taliban's reclusive leader, Mullah Mohammed Omar, who has final say in all matters in Afghanistan.
Diplomats from the United States, Germany and Australia have been meeting Taliban foreign ministry officials to try to find out when an investigation will be completed into the charges that the aid workers were proselytizing.
The diplomats, who had been denied access to the detainees last week, said the atmosphere seems different now.
"They have engaged us with talks, which is something they were not doing last time," Helmut Landes, consular officer at the German Embassy in neighboring Pakistan, said of the Taliban on Tuesday. "We saw the detainees as soon as we arrived. This is all very positive."
The International Red Cross on Wednesday delivered a stack of woolen blankets to the detained aid workers at the Reform School, where they are being held in the heart of Kabul.
The Reform School is a sprawling, compound filled with trees where delinquent children, many of them arrested for begging and scavenging, are held.
The Red Cross truck delivered 24 blankets apparently for the eight foreigners and 16 Afghan staff of Shelter Now International, who were arrested more than three weeks ago.
The aid organization has reportedly been operating in Afghanistan since 1993, prior to the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in 1996. It operates in several provinces, but the Taliban have shut down all its projects since the arrests in Kabul.
It was expected that the parents of two jailed American women ? Dana Curry and Heather Mercer ? would be allowed to see their children again Wednesday.
On Monday, Mercer's father, John Mercer, and Curry's mother, who did not want to give her name, saw the two women, who are believed to be single and in their 20s. The meeting came hours after the parents arrived in the Afghan capital.
Since then, the parents have been confined to the U.N. guest house, where they are pacing the grounds, watching television and waiting to hear when they can next visit their daughters. The parents have avoided talking to the media and have refused to give any personal details, including information about their hometowns.
The other six aid workers being held have been identified by Taliban as four Germans ? Margrit Stebnar, George Taubmann, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf ? and two Australians ? Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
* emphasis added
