CPJ asks Taliban to free British journalist

NEW YORK, OCT. 3. The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has condemned the recent arrest of Ms. Yvonne Ridley, a reporter for London's Sunday Express newspaper, and two male guides in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.

Soldiers from Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia arrested the group on September 28 near the eastern city of Jalalabad and detained Ms. Ridley on suspicion of spying, according to news reports. Taliban officials claimed that Ms. Ridley entered the country illegally, without a passport or visa, reported the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP), a news agency based in neighbouring Pakistan that is said to have close links with the Taliban regime.

Ms. Ridley had applied for a visa to Afghanistan several times without success, according to the Sunday Express. The Taliban currently bar entry to most foreign correspondents. The Taliban has admitted holding Ms. Ridley for investigation and say she is being treated well, the AIP reported. However, little is known about the condition of the guides, who were identified as Afghans in some news reports.

``Journalists play a crucial role in informing the international community about conditions in Afghanistan,'' said the CPJ executive director, Ms. Ann Cooper. ``The Taliban do a great disservice to the Afghan people by preventing foreign journalists from entering the country and by arresting reporters that manage to circumvent these restrictions.

``We strongly urge the Taliban authorities to release Yvonne Ridley and her two colleagues immediately,'' Ms. Cooper added. The Taliban has dispatched a special investigation team to Jalalabad, where Ms. Ridley is being held in a residential compound, according to AIP reports sourcing Taliban officials. Red Cross workers have visited Ms. Ridley and said she appeared to be in good condition. A Taliban diplomatic source in Pakistan told Agence France-Presse that Ms. Ridley had disguised herself beneath a burqa. ``When someone enters Afghanistan like this we become suspicious they are spies. This is being investigated,'' said the source.

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Section  : International
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