Equality
02-08-02, 02:54 PM
peace be with you.
http://paknews.com/main.php?id=3&date1=2002-08-01
UK journalist detained by Taliban embraces Islam
Updated on 2002-08-01 13:20:40
ISLAMABAD, August 01 (PNS): British journalist Yvonne Ridley, detained by
Taliban last year, has embraced Islam, saying Islam is the religion of
salvation, according to BBC Pashto service.
Ms Ridley, 44, working for the British "Sunday Express" newspaper - was
detained in September 2001 near the eastern city of Jalalabad, for entering the
country illegally. She was released after ten days.
"Taliban had told me to convert to Islam after my release and reaching London.
I had told them that it is not possible now but promised them to study and
understand Islam," the BBC quoted her as saying.
She said she studied the Holy Quran and several other books and converted to
Islam.
In a book written after her release, Ridley said that she met Dr. Zaki Badawai,
head of the Islamic Center in London and discussed with him Islam. In her book,
she has explained how she was arrested and how much Taliban respected her in
detention.
The British journalist said, "There is no real Islamic system in any of the
Islamic country". She lashed out at the leadership of Taliban and Saudi rulers
for 'making Islam slave' for their ulterior motives and cultural obligations.
The 44-year-old mother-of-one was seized near the northeastern city of
Jalalabad on September 28 after traveling to the region with two local guides.
She was held in solitary confinement in a house for her first seven days in
captivity before being moved to a prison in the Afghan capital Kabul.
She had been in the Middle East since the US suicide attacks on 11 September.
Yvonne Ridley had been reporting for the Sunday Express and Daily Express from
Peshawar and Islamabad in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks.
She was the paper's chief reporter and a highly experienced journalist who
covered several conflicts in many countries around the world.
Sunday Express Editor, Martin Townsend, says: "She is an experienced and
courageous journalist."
Ms Ridley, originally from Stanley, County Durham, is a former assistant editor
of Newcastle's Sunday Sun and deputy editor of Wales on Sunday. Sunday Sun
Deputy Editor, Colin Patterson, says: "She is a very warm, gregarious person
who is very determined and tenacious."
Ms Ridley also worked for the News of the World, the Daily Mirror, The Sunday
Times, The Observer and the Independent before joining Express Newspapers three
years ago.
http://paknews.com/main.php?id=3&date1=2002-08-01
UK journalist detained by Taliban embraces Islam
Updated on 2002-08-01 13:20:40
ISLAMABAD, August 01 (PNS): British journalist Yvonne Ridley, detained by
Taliban last year, has embraced Islam, saying Islam is the religion of
salvation, according to BBC Pashto service.
Ms Ridley, 44, working for the British "Sunday Express" newspaper - was
detained in September 2001 near the eastern city of Jalalabad, for entering the
country illegally. She was released after ten days.
"Taliban had told me to convert to Islam after my release and reaching London.
I had told them that it is not possible now but promised them to study and
understand Islam," the BBC quoted her as saying.
She said she studied the Holy Quran and several other books and converted to
Islam.
In a book written after her release, Ridley said that she met Dr. Zaki Badawai,
head of the Islamic Center in London and discussed with him Islam. In her book,
she has explained how she was arrested and how much Taliban respected her in
detention.
The British journalist said, "There is no real Islamic system in any of the
Islamic country". She lashed out at the leadership of Taliban and Saudi rulers
for 'making Islam slave' for their ulterior motives and cultural obligations.
The 44-year-old mother-of-one was seized near the northeastern city of
Jalalabad on September 28 after traveling to the region with two local guides.
She was held in solitary confinement in a house for her first seven days in
captivity before being moved to a prison in the Afghan capital Kabul.
She had been in the Middle East since the US suicide attacks on 11 September.
Yvonne Ridley had been reporting for the Sunday Express and Daily Express from
Peshawar and Islamabad in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks.
She was the paper's chief reporter and a highly experienced journalist who
covered several conflicts in many countries around the world.
Sunday Express Editor, Martin Townsend, says: "She is an experienced and
courageous journalist."
Ms Ridley, originally from Stanley, County Durham, is a former assistant editor
of Newcastle's Sunday Sun and deputy editor of Wales on Sunday. Sunday Sun
Deputy Editor, Colin Patterson, says: "She is a very warm, gregarious person
who is very determined and tenacious."
Ms Ridley also worked for the News of the World, the Daily Mirror, The Sunday
Times, The Observer and the Independent before joining Express Newspapers three
years ago.