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ADVEReadNOWISEMENT
The Taliban said on Wednesday that efforts to free a British couple from an Afghan prison are under way and denied that their rights are being violated, despite concerns from their relatives and UN officials.
Peter and Barbie Reynolds, who are in their 70s, were arrested in early February after being taken from their home in central Bamiyan province to the capital, Kabul.
The couple run an organisation that provides education and training programmes. Family members in the UK have said they are being mistreated and held on undisclosed charges.
UN rights experts on Monday called for the pair’s release, warning that their health was deteriorating rapidly and that they were at risk of irreparable harm or even death.
The Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi rejected concerns about rights violations.
“They are in constant contact with their families,” Muttaqi told reporters at a media briefing in Kabul on Wednesday.
“Consular services are available. Efforts are underway to secure their release. These steps have not yet been completed. Their human rights are being respected. They are being given full access to treatment, contact and accommodation,” he added.
But Muttaqi did not outline what steps were being taken to secure the couple’s release.
According to the UN experts, the Reynolds’ spell in detention included time in a maximum-security facility and later in underground cells before being moved to above-ground cells at the General Directorate of Intelligence in Kabul.
Peter needs heart medication and, during his detention, suffered two eye infections as well as intermittent tremors in his head and down his left arm. He recently collapsed, the UN statement said, while Barbie suffers from anaemia and remains weak.
“It is inhumane to keep them locked up in such degrading conditions and more worrying when their health is so fragile,” said the UN experts, who called for their immediate transfer to a civilian hospital.
The couple’s adult children said in a statement on Sunday that Peter and Barbie have no bed or furniture and sleep on a mattress on the floor. Peter’s face is red, peeling and bleeding, likely due to the return of skin cancer that urgently needs removing, they said.
“We, their four adult children, have written privately to the Taliban leadership twice, pleading for them to uphold their beliefs of compassion, mercy, fairness, and human dignity,” the children said.
Officials from the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) visited the couple last week, the family said.
“We are supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan,” an FCDO spokesperson said.
Additional sources • AP