ICRC members allowed to meet detained aid workers

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 26. At last there is some hope for the eight foreign aid workers detained by the Taliban militia for over three weeks on charges of preaching Christianity in Afghanistan.

The ruling militia today allowed representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to meet the aid workers in detention at Kabul. A group of three Islamabad-based Western diplomats tried unsuccessfully last week to meet the detained workers.

The eight foreign aid workers are among the 24 members of an aid agency working in Afghanistan. They were picked up on charges of attempts to convert the local population. Under the Islamic laws followed by the Taliban, while the foreign workers might be freed after a jail period, the local workers could face death penalty.

The Taliban refused the Western diplomats access to the detained workers on the plea that no one would be allowed to visit them until investigations against them were completed.

The three Western diplomats, camped at Kabul for a week, had made a futile bid to persuade the Taliban authorities to allow them access to the arrested workers.

There are indications that the Taliban is now willing to allow the Western diplomats to travel to Kabul in the next few days. They are expected to obtain visas early this week.

The Taliban announced on Saturday that diplomats and relatives be given access, as the first part of their investigation into the activities of aid workers activities had been completed.

Reports from Kabul said four officials from the ICRC were allowed to see the aid workers on Sunday, when they delivered messages from their families. The ICRC staff included English and German speakers so the detainees could speak in their mother tongue.

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Section  : International
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