Oblong
September 14, 2001, 6:51pm
1
I really don’t know where to put this, move if you like.
What’s the latest on those people who were being held in Afghanistan for the missionary work. They were a Christian group and included 2 Americans. Last I heard they were being tried. Punishment for them is expulsion. Punishment for Muslims cooperating or converting is death.
In light of what may happen, I fear for their safety. Will they be used as shields?
Looks to me like the mills are grinding ever so slowly.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/09/08/afghan.court/index.html
Aid workers face Afghan court
KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has brought eight foreign aid workers accused of promoting Christianity to court for the first time.
The trial began its fourth day on Saturday after a day’s break because of the Muslim day of prayer in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
Twenty-four staff from German-based Christian relief agency Shelter Now International – 16 Afghans, four Germans, two Australians and two Americans – were arrested five weeks ago on charges that could carry the death penalty.
As well as the eight Westerners, 16 Afghan aid workers working for the same organization – Shelter Now International, based in Germany – have also been arrested and charged with the same crime.
The Afghan Foreign Ministry has not indicated when the Afghans might face trial.
Afghanistan workers choose counsel
One lawyer to represent eight workers faces charges
KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 11 — Eight foreign aid workers on trial in Afghanistan for promoting Christianity have told the ruling Taliban’s Supreme Court they want to hire one lawyer to defend them as a group, an American diplomat said on Tuesday.“The detainees chose a lawyer and we are trying to contact that person at this time,” said David Donahue, an Islamabad-based U.S. diplomat in Kabul.
From next week’s (!) Newsweek :
Afghanistan: The Open-and-Closed-Door Show Trial
The Taliban justice system at work
By Zahid Hussain
Sept. 17 issue — When Afghan judges allowed nearly 70 people into a courtroom in Kabul last Saturday—including foreign journalists, diplomats, eight Western aid workers accused of spreading Christianity and their relatives—they were among the first to witness Taliban justice at work. Yet even their day in court has not cleared up much of the mystery surrounding the high-profile trial.
The date “last Saturday” presumably was September 8.
But, talk about being blown off the world stage by late-breaking events…