Before the bombing, it was in the news that the Taliban had arrested a group of christian missionaries for evangelizing. Among the arrested were 2 Americans. Last I heard they were being put to trial. Punishment for foreigners was expulsion, punishment for the muslims was death.
Has anyone heard about this story since?
No, and actually I was just looking it up the other day for somebody else.
No, they’ve fallen into some kind of media “black hole”, and when last heard from, their trial was just beginning.
They’re weren’t, strictly speaking, “missionaries” but rather “aid workers”.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/09/08/afghan.court/index.html
This is the latest dispatch that I could find on cnn.com.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/09/10/robertson.focus/index.html
Notice the date–September 10. It’s “black hole” time.
I’d heard on the Houston local newscast Wednesday I believe that there were three Baylor students being detained in Afghanistan for spreading Christianity. Haven’t heard a follow-up since and don’t know if they’re in addition to the other two Americans or the ones they’re referring to. Sorry.
They’re still there. Reports today indicate that they’ve been moved to a ‘safer location’ in Kabul. Safer for whom, it doesn’t say … here’s the Reuters story filed last night from Canberra (Canberra? Well, that’s what it says …):
http://news.excite.com/news/r/010920/21/international-afghan-christians-dc
This is from Tuesday’s issue of The Times:
'Afghan charity workers face the death penalty if found guilty of trying to convert people from Islam, but although the usual punishment for foreigners is a brief jail sentence followed by expulsion, the Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqib caused even greater concern among relatives and human rights workers when he warned: If the crime is worthy of hanging, they will be hanged.
The father of Heather Mercer, on of the two US detainees, has offered to exchange himself for his daughter.
Oblong, I asked a similiar question the other day. Sadly, no answers.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=87050
Bush made reference to them in his speech last night IIRC.
Something like allow all American citizens to leave country.
I hope those bozos realize that if they DO hang those Americans, they will have sealed their fate. It will be such an incredibly stupid move that even those governments that are somewhat supporting them now will throw their hands up in disgust.
And it greatly increases their chances of being turned into a parking lot instead of just having some troops come in after bin Laden.
Find recent reportshere and here. The story says, in part, that the group has been visited by a Pakistani delegation and appears to be “in good spirits”. They have Pakistani legal counsel who will be leaving for Kabul by road shortly.
If you can’t find information in the US media, try Australian; two of them are ours.
I read on MSNBC once that the penalty for non muslims was expulsion, not death. The death penaly was for Muslims who convert or try to conver.
This was in a section describing the Taliban and their policies. Yet, everything I’ve read here indicates the death penalty. That would be tragic.
Can anyone find a source that says expulsion?