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Taliban release UK journalist

Yvonne Ridley
Yvonne Ridley was arrested in late September after entering Afghanistan  


ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- UK journalist Yvonne Ridley has been released by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, according to the Taliban's Bakhtar News Agency.

The agency quoted Information Minster Qudratullah Jamal as saying Ridley, 43, was released from detention on Sunday after being held on suspicion of spying.

It was reported that she will remain in Kabul before travelling to the Pakistani border early on Monday. It is a six-hour drive from Kabul to the Pakistani border.

Sources tell CNN the Taliban foreign minister was not happy about the way Ridley was handled by Taliban intelligence officials, who suspected the British journalist of spying.

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The Taliban ambassador in Islamabad, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, had said on Saturday that Ridley would be released, with indications that she would be freed over the weekend.

The journalist's mother Joyce said on Saturday: "The leaders are now listening to their people and to world opinion."

Friends of Ridley, a reporter for the London-based Sunday Express, contended she was merely following a story when she crossed the border into Afghanistan.

"It's absurd," said friend Daphne Romney. "Anyone who knows Yvonne will know it's just completely absurd. She is not a spy."

Ridley was arrested on September 28 along with two Afghan companions. They were detained in the Dour Daba district of eastern Afghanistan. Ridley was reported to have been dressed in an all-enveloping Afghan burka at the time of the arrest. There has been no word on her two companions.

Ridley, who was said not to have been carrying any travel documents, was taken to Jalalabad for questioning on possible espionage charges.

She was reported to be well after having been moved to the capital, Kabul, a spokeswoman for Britain's Foreign Office said in London.

The report of her release comes two days after British Prime Minister Tony Blair stopped in Islamabad to meet with Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf to discuss the war on terrorism.

It was unclear if Blair appealed to the Taliban Embassy in Islamabad for Ridley's release. Pakistan is the only country with diplomatic ties with the Taliban.

The Afghan Islamic Press quoted the Taliban ambassador as saying the British government had appealed to the Afghan government for her release.

On Wednesday, a Taliban official told Reuters news agency that Ridley had committed a serious crime and may even be a member of a special forces unit. However, Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal said Ridley had apologised for crossing into Afghanistan without authority.

Some of Ridley's colleagues have questioned whether the newspaper should have allowed her to go into such a dangerous country under cover. Sunday Express Editor Martin Townsend said newspaper didn't make the decision lightly, and that Ridley had the final say.

"I absolutely stand by the decision," he said.



 
 
 
 


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