Close X
Sunday, November 10, 2024
ADVT 
International

Canada Asks Taliban To Free Couple Held For 4 Years In Afghanistan

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Dec, 2016 12:27 PM
    Canada called Monday for the unconditional release of a Canadian man and his American wife after a new video appeared to show them begging their governments to intervene on their behalf with their Afghan captors.
     
    The video, which was uploaded to YouTube on Monday and has not been independently verified by The Associated Press, shows Canadian Joshua Boyle and American Caitlan Coleman, who were kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012.
     
    Coleman refers to "the Kafkaesque nightmare in which we find ourselves" and urges "governments on both sides" to reach a deal for their freedom. She then adds: "My children have seen their mother defiled."
     
    Two young children appear in the video with them, and Coleman has told her family that she gave birth to two children in captivity.
     
    Canadian Global Affairs spokesman Michael O'Shaughnessy said his government was aware of the latest video.
     
     
    "We are deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of Joshua Boyle, Caitlan Coleman and their young children and call for their unconditional release," O'Shaughnessy added.
     
    The State Department said it was reviewing the footage.
     
    The video came to public attention through the Site Intelligence Group, which monitors extremist activity online. SITE said it was dated Dec. 3, though the AP could not verify the date of the recording.
     
    The two vanished after setting off in the summer of 2012 for a journey that took them to Russia, the central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, and then to Afghanistan. Her parents, Jim and Lyn Coleman, last heard from their son-in-law on Oct. 8, 2012, from an internet cafe in what Josh described as an "unsafe" part of Afghanistan.
     
    In 2013, the couple appeared in two videos asking the U.S. government to free them from the Taliban. The Colemans received a letter last November in which their daughter said she had given birth to a second child in captivity.
     
    In July, Jim Coleman, speaking to the online news service Circa News, issued a plea to top Taliban commanders to be "kind and merciful" and let the couple go.
     
    A video released in August showed Coleman and Boyle warning that their captors would kill them and their children unless the government in Kabul ends its execution of Taliban prisoners.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Hijab-Clad 'Hero' Muslim Cop Called 'ISIS', Harassed In US

    Hijab-Clad 'Hero' Muslim Cop Called 'ISIS', Harassed In US
    Officer Aml Elsokary, who was off duty and wearing her hijab, dropped off her son in Brooklyn. After parking her car, she returned to the scene to find her son being shoved by the suspect, a white man in his 30s.

    Hijab-Clad 'Hero' Muslim Cop Called 'ISIS', Harassed In US

    Saibaba Temple Gets Rs. 3 Crore In Scrapped Notes After Currency Ban

    Saibaba Temple Gets Rs. 3 Crore In Scrapped Notes After Currency Ban
    The Shri Sai Baba Shirdi Sansthan, managing one of the most revered temples in the country, received Rs. 3 crore in the scrapped notes of Rs. 1,000 and Rs. 500 denominations after the government's demonetisation move, the temple trust said today.

    Saibaba Temple Gets Rs. 3 Crore In Scrapped Notes After Currency Ban

    Hijab-Clad Teen Attacked By Men Screaming 'Trump' On US Subway

    Hijab-Clad Teen Attacked By Men Screaming 'Trump' On US Subway
    Three men attempted to rip off Yasmin Seweid's hijab, calling the 18-year-old student a "terrorist" and shouting President-elect Trump's name as she rode the subway through Manhattan.

    Hijab-Clad Teen Attacked By Men Screaming 'Trump' On US Subway

    Pakistani Restaurant Attacked Twice In US

    Pakistani Restaurant Attacked Twice In US
    A Pakistani restaurant in the US has been targetted for a second time in a suspected hate attack, the latest in a slew of anti-Muslim incidents since Donald Trump has been elected US President.

    Pakistani Restaurant Attacked Twice In US

    Pakistani Man, 68, Arrested For Trying To Import Heroin In US

    Pakistani Man, 68, Arrested For Trying To Import Heroin In US
    Shahbaz Khan was taken in custody by Liberian authorities on December 1 and brought to the United States. He was presented before United States Magistrate Judge James Cott on Friday, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said.

    Pakistani Man, 68, Arrested For Trying To Import Heroin In US

    UK Backs India's Bid For Permanent Membership Of UN Security Council

    UK Backs India's Bid For Permanent Membership Of UN Security Council
    British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson today supported India's quest for permanent membership of the UN Security Council as he called for its expansion to include India for a more "realistic" re-alignment of the world order.

    UK Backs India's Bid For Permanent Membership Of UN Security Council