Yvonne Ridley – In the Hands of Taliban A Tale #2

Yvonne Ridley
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AI: Summary ©

The customer talks about his experience in captivity during the Afghanistan-led Afghanistan-led protests and how he was treated by the attracted group of journalists. He describes how he was treated
in a manner that made him feel uncomfortable and worried, and how he was eventually released. He also talks about how he was treated
the next day by the attracted group of journalists and how he was treated
the next day by the Pakistan-led protests.

AI: Summary ©

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			I thought if I stop and turn around
		
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			they'll say, oh my goodness she's coming back
		
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			and then they would shoot me.
		
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			Afghanistan's Taliban regime says it will put the
		
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			British journalist Yvonne Ridley on trial for entering
		
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			the country illegally.
		
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			Worryingly the Taliban have hinted they might claim
		
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			she was a spy for western special forces.
		
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			The moment I was arrested I was terrified
		
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			because I had fallen for all of the
		
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			western propaganda that these were brutal evil men
		
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			who hated women.
		
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			So I really didn't think that I was
		
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			going to see the sunset that night.
		
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			I just thought this is the end for
		
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			me.
		
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			Um so I was quite frozen with with
		
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			fear and I was taken to the intelligence
		
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			headquarters in Jalalabad.
		
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			Uh they because of their limited knowledge, I
		
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			mean their knowledge of me was as limited
		
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			as my knowledge of them and in cultural
		
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			terms and they thought I was an American
		
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			spy because they didn't recognize my accent.
		
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			They thought it was uh that it's from
		
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			the north of England um on the near
		
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			the Scottish border and uh and I tried
		
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			to tell them we don't all speak like
		
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			the queen.
		
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			They, when they were talking to me they
		
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			kept looking away.
		
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			They looked at the ceiling, they looked at
		
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			the floor, they looked out of the window,
		
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			they looked anywhere but at me and I
		
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			just thought they can't look me in the
		
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			eye because they know that they're going to
		
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			kill me and they're feeling too guilty.
		
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			When of course I learned later that they
		
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			were shooting me in the eye respect by
		
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			not staring at me.
		
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			So it was um it was it was
		
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			a real clash of cultures.
		
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			They didn't understand me.
		
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			I didn't understand them.
		
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			I was extremely fearful and so once I
		
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			became accustomed to the idea they're going to
		
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			kill me, the biggest fear then was uh
		
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			will they torture me?
		
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			Will they * me?
		
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			Will they abuse me?
		
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			And so that was my next biggest fear
		
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			so I just thought if I'm the prisoner
		
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			from * they'll just take me outside and
		
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			shoot me and then that'll be the finish.
		
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			It'll be over and I'll go from being
		
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			prisoner to being dead and at least I'll
		
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			miss out all the middle bits and so
		
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			that was my strategy.
		
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			They kept responding to me when I was
		
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			rude, aggressive, I threw things at them, I
		
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			spat at them.
		
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			They kept saying why are you behaving like
		
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			this?
		
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			You were our guest.
		
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			We want you to be happy and I'm
		
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			thinking why are they acting like this?
		
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			They're supposed to be evil and brutal.
		
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			This is obviously a game that they're playing
		
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			you know like the cat and the mouse.
		
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			They're going to let me think that they're
		
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			really nice and then at the last minute
		
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			the claws will come out.
		
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			So throughout the the whole experience I don't
		
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			think we came to one understanding with each
		
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			other and but in truth they never laid
		
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			a finger on me.
		
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			They never touched me.
		
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			They didn't respond in an aggressive manner.
		
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			If they were upset with me they just
		
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			got up and walked out.
		
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			You know we don't want to talk to
		
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			you and so it was not what I
		
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			expected.
		
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			I'm sure I wasn't what they expected.
		
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			At the Sunday Express her employers insist she's
		
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			a bona fide journalist who only entered Afghanistan
		
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			to report on the humanitarian situation.
		
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			And after 11 days I was released on
		
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			humanitarian grounds even after the war had started
		
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			and I don't know who was happier when
		
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			I walked back into Pakistan whether they were
		
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			glad to see the back of me or
		
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			I was happier just to get away from
		
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			them.
		
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			But it was only on the point of
		
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			my release as I was walking towards the
		
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			Pakistan journalists that I started to think about
		
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			my time in captivity and the journalists were
		
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			shouting how did the Taliban treat you and
		
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			I'm walking towards my colleagues from the Pakistan
		
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			media and I thought you know these guys
		
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			treated me with courtesy and respect and then
		
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			I thought gosh how did I treat them
		
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			and I thought I nearly stopped and I
		
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			nearly turned around to go back to say
		
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			look I'm really sorry I was so rude
		
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			but I thought if I stop and turn
		
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			around they'll say oh my goodness she's coming
		
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			back and then they would shoot me.
		
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			So I went and I told the Pakistan
		
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			media I was treated with courtesy and respect
		
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			which was true.