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Detained Foreign Aid Workers Moved to Taliban Stronghold
ISLAMABAD, Nov 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Eight foreign aid workers on trial in Afghanistan for allegedly seeking to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity were taken overnight to the southern city of Kandahar from Kabul by retreating Taliban militia forces, the father of one of the American prisoners said Tuesday.
"I have been told unofficially that all eight detainees are safe and they have been shifted to Kandahar," John Mercer, the father of aid worker Heather Mercer, told reporters after a meeting with Taliban officials at the Taliban embassy here in neighboring Pakistan.
The Taliban arrested the Shelter Now International employees - two Americans, two Australians and four Germans - in early August on charges of preaching Christianity and trying to convert Afghan Muslims.
Under Taliban law, Afghans found trying to convert other Afghan Muslims to Christianity may be executed; the punishment for foreigners is usually a few days' imprisonment followed by expulsion.
In an interview with CNN, John Mercer said he had been told his daughter and the other aid workers had been taken to Kandahar, one of the last Taliban strongholds in Afghanistan, by truck.
"In my information, they left about midnight last night in an RV [recreational vehicle] type of truck and were taken to Kandahar.
"Since learning of these events, on one hand I'm very disappointed in events, on the other I'm very angry," Mercer said. "It's a lot of mixed emotions I have with what we're seeing now."
Mercer told CNN his daughter and the others may actually be safer in Kandahar.
"With the Northern Alliance moving [into Kabul] and things very unsettled, I think it's probably for the detainees own good that they were moved.
"I'd certainly hoped that a resolution to this case would have been found before now," Mercer added.
"I'm not pleased with what the detainees' lawyer has done to date. He hasn't been there in almost three weeks. They pleaded with him to return, he did not. It's just kind of a mess right now," he said.
"It's very distressing," he continued. "But if I sit back and try to analyze it, it's quite possible the Taliban want to consider that they still have an effective government and that they're still going to have a trial in Kandahar."
The aid workers' trial began in September but was interrupted by the opening on October 7 of U.S. airstrikes on Afghanistan.
Washington launched its campaign against the Taliban in response to their refusal to give up Osama bin Laden, accused by the U.S. of masterminding the September 11 terrorist attacks.
U.S. President George W. Bush has demanded the Taliban hand over the Saudi exile, now granted Afghan nationality by the militia, and release the aid workers.
Diplomats have told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the prisoners were being well treated by the Taliban, although they had shown signs of stress since the U.S.-led airstrikes began.
The bombing raids helped opposition troops capture a huge swathe of territory in northern Afghanistan over the past five days, bringing them to the outskirts of Kabul by Monday night.
Opposition security forces entered Kabul early Tuesday after the Taliban withdrew overnight.
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