Alleged spy facing trial for illegal entry

By ARIFA AKBAR

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban plan to put British journalist Yvonne Ridley on trial for illegally entering the country, the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) said yesterday.

"She will be tried because she broke the laws of our land and entered our country without permission," AIP quoted Taleban Deputy Foreign Minister Mullah Abdur Rahman Zahid as saying.

"Right now the investigation of the British journalist is under way, and then her case will be sent to the courts for a trial," he was quoted as saying, adding that it was irrelevant whether or not she was a journalist.

Ridley, 41, who works for Britain's Sunday Express newspaper, was picked up with her two guides close to the eastern city of Jalalabad last Friday while dressed in an all-enveloping Afghan burqa.

The British Foreign Office insisted that the mother of one was a genuine journalist. A spokesman said: "We have told the Taleban this and passed on information from her employer to that effect.

"We expect them to accept this information and resolve this situation as soon as possible.

"We also continue to urge them that she be treated well."

Her exact whereabouts and details of formal charges are not known. Security sources in Jalalabad said that no formal charges had been laid.

The charge of spying in Taleban-held Afghanistan carries the death penalty.

A Taleban spokesman said, at the very least, she could face charges of entering Afghanistan illegally and insulting Afghan women by wearing their dress.

A spokeswoman for the Sunday Express said Ridley's colleagues were deeply concerned by the situation and rooting for her safe and speedy return.

Paul Ashford, editorial director of Northern & Shell, publishers of the Express newspaper, flew to Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, this week.

He was accompanied by a company lawyer and would be on hand for any support she might need, the spokeswoman said.

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