Taliban urged to release UK couple before they ‘die in custody’

LONDON - The children of an elderly couple imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan have urged the group to release their parents before they "die in custody,” reported PA Media/dpa.

Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were arrested when they were on their way home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan, in February.

The duo were held for five-and-a-half months without any charges and, up until eight weeks ago, had been separated and detained in a maximum security prison.

The couple’s four adult children who live in the United States (US) and (United Kingdom (UK) are worried for their parents, who are both in poor health.

"This is another urgent plea to the Taliban to release our parents before it is too late, and die in custody.

"They have dedicated their lives to the people of Afghanistan for the last 18 years,” they said.

The siblings said they had written privately to the Taliban leadership twice and made public appeals for the release of their parents, who ran school training programmes for the past 18 years in the country, after they remained there following the Taliban takeover in 2021.

The couple’s daughter, Sarah Entwistle, said she and her siblings had refrained from making a public appeal for the past two months in the hope that it would encourage the Taliban to release their parents, but there has been no progress.

She said they had privately pleaded with the Taliban "to uphold their beliefs of compassion, mercy, fairness, and human dignity.”

"We do so again now publicly,” she said.

After taking over power, the Taliban had introduced a ban on women working and education for girls above 12 years of age. 

The Reynolds’s children say the last time they spoke to their parents was five weeks ago when their mother said their father’s health was rapidly deteriorating.

A medical assessment conducted by a cardiologist remotely revealed that their father, Peter, may have suffered a stroke or a silent heart attack, the siblings said.

They added that Peter was suffering from a red, peeling, bleeding face, which could mean his skin cancer had returned.

Their mother, Barbie, meanwhile, continued to struggle with numbness in her feet, which was linked to anaemia, possibly from insufficient food in the maximum security prison, her children said, while a medical assessment noted that this had created additional strain on the woman and which could lead to heart failure.

The couple, who celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this week, were recently held at the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in the capital, Kabul, their children said.

They were then transferred to the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), with the promise of release within two to three days, but two months have passed now, with no sign of them being released.

At the Pul-e-Charkhi prison, the couple had access to phones and called their children every day from the prison yard.

The children said their parents have better conditions at the GDI, but still have no bed or furniture and sleep on a mattress on the floor.

Entwistle said that for the past two months, they had maintained a media blackout, hoping to demonstrate their intention to show respect to the Taliban and trust the process.

"We are grateful to Doughty Street Chambers (a leading set of barristers' chambers located in London and Manchester, specialising in human rights and civil liberties law) for liaising with the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Torture. The UN will be making a statement on Monday calling for the immediate release. In the light of this, we are also publicly appealing again to the Taliban for this.”

Officials from the UK Foreign Office were allowed on an exceptional basis to visit the couple last Thursday to check on their welfare.

"We are supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan,” said a spokesperson. - BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa