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A Briton held captive by the Taliban for more than nine weeks has said he is living in dire conditions in a prison in Kabul, describing it as “the nearest thing to hell I can imagine”.
In a recording of a phone call from Pul-e-Charkhi maximum-security jail, Peter Reynolds, 79, also spoke of his fears for the safety of his wife, Barbie, who is being held in the women’s section of the prison.
“I’ve 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,” Reynolds said in recordings shared with the Sunday Times.
Reynolds said he was living in “a cage rather than a cell”, but described his circumstances as “VIP conditions” compared with where his wife is being held. He said he had lost weight and received only one meal a day.
The couple have been running projects in schools in Afghanistan for 18 years and decided to stay in the country after the Taliban seized power in 2021. They were detained at the start of February when they travelled to their home in Bamiyan province in a small plane rented by their Chinese-American friend, Faye Hall.
Hall was also detained, but she was released last weekend after the Trump administration lifted bounties worth $10m from the heads of senior Taliban figures including Sirajuddin Haqqani, the interior minister.
Reynolds said that when he was detained, he was initially told the plane lacked proper landing permission and they would be released. Instead, their phones were confiscated and they were transferred to the interior ministry in Kabul, where the couple were separated then locked up in Pul-e-Charki prison.
Reynolds said he was told by the Taliban that they had confiscated 59 books from their home that were “against Islam”. He was asked why they had them. “I asked, ‘Can you tell me any part of those books which is against Islam?’ ” he said. “No one has been able to, so I think it’s an outrage.
“They have 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’t released us.
“These things are an utter disgrace and shame. The Taliban have made a mistake and need to face up to it.”
