Lawyer trying to see Afghan detained aid workers

Posted at 3:51 a.m. PDT Friday, Sept. 21, 2001 From http://www0.mercurycenter.com/nation/nationwire/docs/1505685l.htm Lawyer trying to see Afghan detained aid workers BY TAHIR IKRAM ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani lawyer is trying to travel to Afghanistan to give legal aid to eight foreign aid workers detained for promoting Christianity and now moved to a safe place for fear of U.S. attacks, Australian officials said on Friday. An Australian diplomat, Alistair Adams, told Reuters that the lawyer and his assistant had been given visas by the Afghan Taliban embassy in Islamabad and were now trying to travel by road because all air travel to Afghanistan had been suspended for more than a week. The United States has demanded that the ruling Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, whom Washington sees as the prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington that killed 6,000 people. ``They (lawyers) will have to travel by road through Torkham (border post)...but I don't know when they will be able to,'' Adams said. A U.S. diplomat said parents of the two Americans among the detained aid workers were in touch with the lawyer who would represent their daughters in the Taliban Supreme Court where they are charged with promoting Christianity in Afghanistan. Atif Ali Khan is a well-known lawyer based in Peshawar, the capital of North West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan, where anti-American sentiment is on the rise in anticipation of military strikes by Washington. Diplomatic sources said the parents of Americans Dayna Curry and Heather Mercer were planning to stay in Islamabad despite a U.S. warning to its nationals to leave Pakistan for security reasons. Beside the two Americans, other foreign detainees have been identified as Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas, and Germans Georg Taubmann, Katrin Jelinek, Margrit Stebner and Silke Durrkopf. Australian officials in Canberra said the aid workers had been moved to a safe location for fear of U.S. attacks on the Taliban but their new location was not known. ``The Taliban has reported they have been moved to a safer location,'' an Australian foreign office spokeswoman told Reuters. The foreign aid workers and 16 Afghan staff of German-based Christian charity Shelter Now International (SNI)l were arrested in early August, accused of trying to convert Afghan Muslims to Christianity. The charges could carry the death penalty. Diplomats from Germany, the United States and Australia, as well as some relatives of the American prisoners, have visited the detainees in the capital Kabul but left Afghanistan last week in the wake of the September 11 attacks. Afghanistan has advised all foreigners to leave, saying their safety could not be guaranteed. All aid agencies, providing basic services in a country devastated by two decades of war, have also been withdrawn. The Australian spokeswoman said the detainees were visited on Wednesday this week by a Pakistani delegation, which was trying to convince the Taliban movement to hand over bin Laden, a Saudi exile the Taliban regard as a guest. On Thursday a council of Afghan Islamic clerics recommended that the Taliban government persuade bin Laden to leave Afghanistan ``whenever possible.'' ``The (Pakistan) delegation said the detainees appeared well and in good spirits,'' the spokeswoman said. There has been no word on the fate of the SNI's Afghan employees. [ Reuters ] © 2001 The Mercury News. For fair use.


Heather Mercer	Dayna Curry
Search Google for information about "Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry" OTHER ARTICLES about Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry and the others: The Houston Chronicle 9/19/01: Church prays for a miracle. Two aid workers held by Afghans. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/printstory.hts/special/terror/local/1053454 The Lariat (Baylor U.) 09/18/2001: Captive Baylor U. alumni 'fine,' officials say http://www.uwire.com/content/topnews091801002.html USA Today 9/17/01: U.N. workers leave Afghanistan after U.S. attack http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001/09/12/unworkers.htm LA Times 9/16/01: Strike Could Jeopardize Return of Hostages http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-091601yanks.story (cannot post text at FR) Washington Post 9/15/01: Attacks Complicate Case Of Woman Held by Taliban http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33994-2001Sep14.html (cannot post text at FR) OTHER FREEREPUBLIC THREADS: [ Release Our Women! ] Antioch pastor waits in Pakistan for release of women from Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ba9feb8466c.htm Waco pastor fears for safety of ex-BU students held in Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ba913f21177.htm Taliban May Sentence Christians To Death http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ba7683d2f23.htm Heather Mercer & Dayna Curry left behind in Afghanistan UN Workers Leave Afghanistan http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3ba61e301fcd.htm
Even CNN is now gone. They have practically no one left...but Jesus will never leave them. Do not forget them yourself. Keep praying for them, that they will be brave, that they will be protected, that they will know that God is with them, and that they will be released soon and arrive home safely.

November 14, 2001
The prayers have been answered.

They are Free!
Praise Jesus!

..."Today we've got incredibly good news," President Bush said after the aid workers were plucked from Afghanistan by military helicopters and taken to Pakistan. "Our United States military rescued eight humanitarian workers who had been imprisoned in Afghanistan."

..."Eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, were safe in Pakistan Wednesday after being held in Afghanistan for three months by the Taliban for preaching Christianity, U.S. officials said.
Three U.S. special forces helicopters picked up the aid workers in a field near Ghanzi, about 50 miles southwest of Kabul, at about 4:40 p.m. EST, Pentagon officials said. The aid workers were flown to Pakistan, and appear to be in good health, officials said."

Thank God. Praise God. Praise Jesus. The release/rescue of these people is truly a miracle that only God, working through people, could have accomplished.

I have learned over the years that when the very thing happens that you have been praying for, you Thank God For It; and you acknowledge His answer to prayer; and you DON'T minimize it by saying that it just would have happened on its own.

I am sure this rescue will prove to be an interesting story in human terms, but it is even more momentous as a miraculous answer to the many, many prayers of many, many people. Thank You Lord!

Links to breaking articles about the good news:

• Taliban in Disarray; U.S. Rescues Aid Workers
• Families Celebrate Aid Worker Release
• Bush Welcomes Release of Aid Workers From Afghanistan
• Freed Aid Workers Land in Pakistan
• Christian Aid Workers Freed in Afghanistan
• Western Aid Workers Freed
• Report: Coalition forces have rescued foreign aid workers currently enroute Pakistan

Related Links:

• Press Releases: Antioch Community Church, Waco, Texas (church of Mercer and Curry)
• Afghan Update: NorthCity Christian Centre, Padbury Perth W. Australia (church of Bunch and Thomas)

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