Yvonne Ridley – In the Hands of Taliban A Tale #2
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.
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 ©
I thought if I stop and turn around
they'll say, oh my goodness she's coming back
and then they would shoot me.
Afghanistan's Taliban regime says it will put the
British journalist Yvonne Ridley on trial for entering
the country illegally.
Worryingly the Taliban have hinted they might claim
she was a spy for western special forces.
The moment I was arrested I was terrified
because I had fallen for all of the
western propaganda that these were brutal evil men
who hated women.
So I really didn't think that I was
going to see the sunset that night.
I just thought this is the end for
me.
Um so I was quite frozen with with
fear and I was taken to the intelligence
headquarters in Jalalabad.
Uh they because of their limited knowledge, I
mean their knowledge of me was as limited
as my knowledge of them and in cultural
terms and they thought I was an American
spy because they didn't recognize my accent.
They thought it was uh that it's from
the north of England um on the near
the Scottish border and uh and I tried
to tell them we don't all speak like
the queen.
They, when they were talking to me they
kept looking away.
They looked at the ceiling, they looked at
the floor, they looked out of the window,
they looked anywhere but at me and I
just thought they can't look me in the
eye because they know that they're going to
kill me and they're feeling too guilty.
When of course I learned later that they
were shooting me in the eye respect by
not staring at me.
So it was um it was it was
a real clash of cultures.
They didn't understand me.
I didn't understand them.
I was extremely fearful and so once I
became accustomed to the idea they're going to
kill me, the biggest fear then was uh
will they torture me?
Will they * me?
Will they abuse me?
And so that was my next biggest fear
so I just thought if I'm the prisoner
from * they'll just take me outside and
shoot me and then that'll be the finish.
It'll be over and I'll go from being
prisoner to being dead and at least I'll
miss out all the middle bits and so
that was my strategy.
They kept responding to me when I was
rude, aggressive, I threw things at them, I
spat at them.
They kept saying why are you behaving like
this?
You were our guest.
We want you to be happy and I'm
thinking why are they acting like this?
They're supposed to be evil and brutal.
This is obviously a game that they're playing
you know like the cat and the mouse.
They're going to let me think that they're
really nice and then at the last minute
the claws will come out.
So throughout the the whole experience I don't
think we came to one understanding with each
other and but in truth they never laid
a finger on me.
They never touched me.
They didn't respond in an aggressive manner.
If they were upset with me they just
got up and walked out.
You know we don't want to talk to
you and so it was not what I
expected.
I'm sure I wasn't what they expected.
At the Sunday Express her employers insist she's
a bona fide journalist who only entered Afghanistan
to report on the humanitarian situation.
And after 11 days I was released on
humanitarian grounds even after the war had started
and I don't know who was happier when
I walked back into Pakistan whether they were
glad to see the back of me or
I was happier just to get away from
them.
But it was only on the point of
my release as I was walking towards the
Pakistan journalists that I started to think about
my time in captivity and the journalists were
shouting how did the Taliban treat you and
I'm walking towards my colleagues from the Pakistan
media and I thought you know these guys
treated me with courtesy and respect and then
I thought gosh how did I treat them
and I thought I nearly stopped and I
nearly turned around to go back to say
look I'm really sorry I was so rude
but I thought if I stop and turn
around they'll say oh my goodness she's coming
back and then they would shoot me.
So I went and I told the Pakistan
media I was treated with courtesy and respect
which was true.