PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: WESTERN DIPLOMATS AND RELATIVES ARRIVE TO SEE JAILED AID WORKERS.
Record ID:
292111
PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: WESTERN DIPLOMATS AND RELATIVES ARRIVE TO SEE JAILED AID WORKERS.
- Title: PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: WESTERN DIPLOMATS AND RELATIVES ARRIVE TO SEE JAILED AID WORKERS.
- Date: 28th August 2001
- Summary: ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 27, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: EXTERIOR OF AFGHAN EMBASSY AND GROUP OF MEN STANDING OUTSIDE 0.03 2. GV: CAR WITH GERMAN DIPLOMAT HELMUT LANDES, AMERICAN DIPLOMAT DAVID DONAHUE AND AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMAT ALISTAIR ADAMS ARRIVING AT THE AFGHANISTAN EMBASSY/ DIPLOMATS GOING INSIDE EMBASSY (2 SHOTS) 0.20 3. GV: PEOPLE WAITING OUTISDE EMBADSSY GATES 0.23 4. GV: DIPLOMATS EMERGE FROM EMBASSY 0.32 5. CU: (SOUNDBITE) (English) GERMAN DIPLOMAT HELMUT LANDES SAYING: "We have got our visas and we will fly to Kabul this afternoon and we hope that we can see the detainees this evening, or tomorrow morning." 0.42 6. GV/PAN: LANDES GETS INTO CAR/ DIPLOMATS' CAR LEAVING EMBASSY 0.48 7. MV/CU: MULLAH ABDUL SALAM ZAEEF, TALIBAN AMBASSADOR SITTING DOWN TO TALK TO JOURNALISTS/ CLOSE-UP OF PHOTOGRAPHERS (2 SHOTS) 0.57 8. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Pushto) MULLAH ABDUL SALAM ZAEEF, TALIBAN AMBASSADOR, SAYING: "The visas we had given last time were on the condition that the diplomats would not ask to meet the detainees there. But, this time, the visas are not conditional. This time, we have told them that they can meet the detainees." 1.18 9. GV: GROUP OF OFFICIALS WAITING OUTSIDE EMBASSY 1.21 10. GV/MV: MOTHER OF U.S. DETAINEE COMING OUT OF EMBASSY/ MOTHER OF U.S. DETAINEE GETTING INTO CAR/ FATHER OF U.S. DETAINEE COMING OUT (2 SHOTS) 1.27 11. MCU: FATHER OF U.S. DETAINEE TALKING TO REUTERS TELEVISION: Q. "Did you get your visas?"/A. "Yes we did. Thank you."/Q. "Are you happy about going?"/A. "I am ecstatic. Thank you." 1.36 ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (AUGUST 27, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. GV: VEHICLE WITH GERMAN DIPLOMAT HELMUT LANDES, AMERICAN DIPLOMAT DAVID DONAHUE AND AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMAT ALISTAIR ADAMS AND RELATIVES INSIDE ARRIVING AT THE AIRPORT 1.41 13. GV: LANDES, DONAHUE AND ADAMS, MOTHER OF ONE AMERICAN DETAINEE AND FATHER OF ANOTHER OUT OF VEHICLE, WALKING TOWARDS EXECUTIVE LOUNGE 2.03 14. CU: SOUNDBITE (English) AUSTRALIAN DIPLOMAT ALISTAIR ADAMS SAYING: "We're expecting to see the detainees, but we have no plans, we don't know when, but we'll be consulting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials seeking access. We understand that will be granted, I hope so, and we're looking forward to seeing the detainees as soon as we possibly can." 2.19 15. MCU: DETAINEES' RELATIVES GO INTO LOUNGE 2.26 KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (AUGUST 27 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESSALL) 16. GV: UN PLANE TAXIING ON TARMAC AT KABUL AIRPORT 2.30 17. GV/MV: DIPLOMATS AND RELATIVES LEAVING PLANE AND BEING GREETED (3 SHOTS) 2.41 18. GV: CARS ARRIVING AT U.N. GUESTHOUSE 2.46 19. MCU: SOUNDBITE (English) MOTHER OF ONE OF U.S. AID WORKERS (SHE DID NOT WANT TO GIVE HER NAME) (RESPONDING TO A QUESTION ABOUT HOW MUCH INFORMATION SHE HAS ABOUT THE DETAINEES) SAYING: "Only what's in the newspapers. Not much. (Reporter asking: Did you send any letters with the Red Cross?) "We had - at some point - given the Red Cross letters, but whether those letters were transmitted, I don't know. (Reporter asking: Do you expect to see them soon, Madam?) "Of course. It's the only reason I came. 3.14 20. MV: DIPLOMATS AND PARENTS MEETING IN U.N. GUESTHOUSE HALL 3.21 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 12th September 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN / ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN
- City:
- Country: Afghanistan
- Reuters ID: LVAAKO3QB9ZPUMK0UIVSLDM613W7
- Story Text: Western diplomats and relatives flew into Afghanistan
on Monday after the ruling Taliban lifted a ban on access to
eight foreign aid workers held since early August on charges
of spreading Christianity.
Three diplomats from Germany, Australia and the United
States, plus the father of one American prisoner and the
mother of another, arrived in Kabul on a special U.N. flight
on Monday (August 27) hours after the Taliban issued them
visas and said they could see the jailed aid workers.
Helmut Landes, the spokesman for the German Embassy in
Pakistan who was among the diplomats who travelled to Kabul,
said when picking up his Afghan visa in Islamabad that they
hoped for access to the prisoners as early as Monday night,
although it might be Tuesday (August 28).
Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told
Reuters Television:
"The visas we had given last time were on the condition
that the diplomats would not ask to meet the detainees there.
But, this time, the visas are not conditional. This time, we
have told them that they can meet the detainees," he added.
A short time later, the relatives of the two American
detainees -- the mother of one and the father of the other -
emerged from the embassy.
The father said he was "ecstatic" and they expected to go
to Kabul at the same time as the diplomats.
"We are going to Kabul," Australian diplomat Alistair
Adams said as they went through Islamabad airport to board
their small propeller-driven plane. "We are expecting to see
the
detainees...We don't know when that will happen.
"We will consult with the ministry of foreign affairs
officials seeking access. We understand that will be granted,"
he said. "So, we are looking forward to seeing the detainees
as
soon as we possibly can."
The hour-long flight to Kabul came a day after Afghan
authorities let the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) meet the six women and two men who had not been seen by
anyone except the Taliban since being jailed in early August.
On arrival in Afghanistan, the mother of one of the
American detainees, who asked not to be named, told reporters
the only information she had access to was in the newspapers.
"We had - at some point - given the Red Cross letters, but
whether those letters were transmitted, I don't know."
When one reporter asked her if she expected to see the
detaineees soon, she replied:
"Of course. It's the only reason I came."
The diplomats had returned from Kabul last Tuesday (August
21) after a futile week-long effort to see the aid workers,
who were arrested after raids by religious police.
The eight members of the Christian aid group Shelter Now
International -- six women and two men -- are four Germans,
two Australians and two Americans.
The Taliban say their supreme leader Mullah Mohammed Omar
will decide what punishment will be meted out to the
foreigners and local staff. Under their strict interpretation
of Islam it could include death sentences.
The Taliban say they recovered Bibles, tapes and CDs about
Christianity in the local Dari and Pashto languages that were
being used to convert Muslims to Christianity.
The Taliban later said they had widened the investigation
into alleged links with other groups, including the U.N. World
Food Programme.
The arrests followed months of worsening ties between the
Taliban and the numerous foreign aid groups helping
impoverished Afghans cope with more than two decades of war
and now a devastating drought.
(lh/
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