LONDON
\nA 79-year-old Briton imprisoned in Afghanistan is living in \u201cthe nearest thing to hell I can imagine.\u201d
\nPeter Reynolds and his wife Barbie were detained on Feb. 1 along with their Chinese-American friend Faye Hall and their interpreter Jaya in Bamiyan province.
\nThe couple, who both hold Afghan passports, have lived in the country for 18 years, where they married in 1970 and run various educational projects.
\nThey were arrested after flying to Bamiyan from Kabul in a small rented plane which they were later told lacked proper landing permission.
\nIn a phone call, details of which were shared with the Sunday Times, Peter Reynolds described conditions in Pul-e-Charkhi prison as living in \u201ca cage rather than a cell.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cI\u2019ve been joined up with rapists and murderers by handcuffs and ankle cuffs, including a man who killed his wife and three children, shouting away, a demon-possessed man.\u201d
\nPeter Reynolds said he receives only one meal a day, but he is in \u201cVIP conditions\u201d compared to his wife, who is being held in the women\u2019s wing of the prison.
\n\u201cThe atmosphere is pretty shocking. I\u2019m learning a lot about the underbelly of Afghanistan,\u201d he said. \u201cThe prison guards shout all the time and beat people with a piece of piping. It\u2019s a horrible atmosphere \u2014 the nearest thing to hell I can imagine.\u201d
\nHe added that the four were initially told they would shortly be released. However, their phones were confiscated and they were handed over to the Ministry of Interior in Kabul.
\nOfficials there told him his house in Bamiyan had been raided, and 59 books \u201cagainst Islam\u201d had been found and confiscated.
\n\u201cI asked, \u2018Can you tell me any part of those books which is against Islam?\u2019\u201d Peter Reynolds said. \u201cNo one has been able to, so I think it\u2019s an outrage.
\n\u201cThey\u2019ve interrogated more than 30 people who worked with us in Yakawlang and Kabul, including our accountant and tax people, and we had to put our thumbprint on a nine-page-long CID (criminal investigation department) report and they said they could find no crime. That was three weeks ago but still they haven\u2019t released us.\u201d
\nHe added: \u201cThese things are an utter disgrace and shame. The Taliban have made a mistake and need to face up to it.\u201d
\nHall was released last week after bounties worth $10 million placed on various Taliban figures, including Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, were lifted by the US.
\nPeter Reynolds told his family not to pay any ransoms demanded for the couple\u2019s release. \u201cNo money should be paid in hush money or hostage money, it doesn\u2019t solve anything if millions of dollars are paid,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThis government needs to face up to the fact it has made a mistake, it has done wrong. If money is paid there\u2019s nothing to stop them arresting people again.\u201d
\nHe said although a lawyer working for the EU had delivered him medication last week, he has been denied all requests to see his wife.
\nSarah Entwistle, the couple\u2019s eldest daughter, told the Sunday Times: \u201cThe hardest part for mum and dad is this is the longest they have gone without speaking to each other since they became sweethearts in the 1960s.
\n\u201cWhen they go to court, they are taken separately and can only see each other from behind the mesh and mouth, \u2018I love you.\u2019\u201d
\nPeter Reynolds has appeared in court four times and his wife three times since their detention, but their case has not progressed.
\nIn a phone call last week, she reassured her family that she was \u201cin her element\u201d and had started teaching fellow inmates English.
\n\u201cThis is who my parents are, even in this dark place, trying to be a hope to people,\u201d Entwistle said. \u201cIn the midst of all this, mum and dad are still true to themselves \u2014 loving people, keeping peace and creating solutions in one of the darkest, violent and most hopeless places in the world.\u201d
\nShe added: \u201cThey understand the power of the Taliban but are literally prepared to sacrifice their lives for the welfare of these people. We couldn\u2019t be prouder of them.\u201d
\nPeter Reynolds said despite his ordeal, he wants to keep working in Afghanistan. \u201cI told the Ministry of Interior I don\u2019t want to leave here saying how bad Afghanistan is, we want to be a friend of Afghanistan.\u201d
\nThe couple moved to Afghanistan from the UK in 2007. Their organization Rebuild was established to provide education and training, \u201cdedicated to fostering healthy relationships in homes, workplaces and communities across Afghanistan.\u201d
\nAfter the fall of the Western-backed government in 2021, they decided to stay in the country as they had experienced no issues with the Taliban in the past.
\nBarbie Reynolds even became the first woman in the country to receive a certificate of appreciation from the new regime.
\nEntwistle said she had met with UK Foreign Office officials, including Middle East Minister Hamish Falconer, who said they were \u201cdoing all they can\u201d but it could take \u201ca few more weeks\u201d to make progress.
\nRelations between the UK and the Taliban are strained, with neither having an embassy in the other\u2019s capital.
\nThe Sunday Times reported that the Taliban is pushing for it to be allowed to have a diplomatic presence in London, with 200,000 Afghans currently living in the UK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON A 79-year-old Briton imprisoned in Afghanistan is living in \u201cthe nearest thing to hell I can imagine.\u201d Peter Reynolds and his wife Barbie were detained on Feb. 1 along with their Chinese-American friend Faye Hall and their interpreter Jaya in Bamiyan province. The couple, who both hold Afghan passports, have lived in the country […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470973,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-470963","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n