Taliban Puts Aid Workers on Trial
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Four weeks after they were arrested on charges of preaching Christianity, eight foreign aid workers, including two Americans, went on trial Tuesday, officials said.
The trial, which Chief Justice Noor Mohamed Saqib said would be closed despite earlier promises that it would be open to the public, was expected to last several days.
Saqib and 14 bearded Islamic clerics met for nearly four hours at the start of the trial. The eight foreign aid workers are expected to be allowed to speak in their own defense.
Saqib would not say when they would be called to the court. He said they would be able to defend themselves, but if they wanted a lawyer one would be provided.
The eight foreigners, who also include four Germans and two Australians, were arrested along with 16 Afghan staff members. The Afghan staff was to be tried separately.
Under Taliban law, the penalty for a foreigner who is caught proselytizing is jail and expulsion. For an Afghan, the penalty is death.
For the parents of the two jailed Americans, Dayna Curry, 29, and Heather Mercer, 24, the wait has been fraught with uncertainty.
On Monday, John Mercer of Vienna, Va., celebrated his birthday quietly while waiting at the U.N. guest house for news about his daughter's fate.
``The only present I want is to have my daughter home,'' he said.
Curry's mother, Nancy Cassell, a teacher from Thompson's Station, Tenn., took comfort in the hope that the ordeal would soon be over.
Three Western diplomats, from Germany, Australia and the United States, have tried to get information about the legal procedure under Taliban rule, but have been unsuccessful.
Saqib said he was willing to explain the procedure to the diplomats if they wanted to come to the supreme court building and meet him.
The only precedent of a foreigner being tried in Afghanistan under the hard-line Islamic Taliban occurred in March 1997, when two French employees of the Paris-based Action Contre la Faim were tried on charges of immoral conduct. Facing litigation after spending 26 days in a Taliban jail, they were sentenced to time served and ordered to leave the country immediately.
Their trial lasted less than one hour and was held in the war-damaged supreme court building.
The charges against the two French nationals were made after their humanitarian aid organization held a lunch for Afghan women employees during which Afghan men were also in attendance, a crime under Taliban law.
The Taliban, who espouse a harsh brand of Islam, impose strict segregation of the sexes among Afghan men and women. Afghan women are required to wear the all-encompassing burqa, which hides them from head to toe. They are not allowed to work, attend school or travel without a male relative.
Afghan men must wear a beard and cover their heads. Male government employees must wear a turban.
The Taliban's strict enforcement of their laws among Afghans has left many international aid organizations fearful, especially for their Afghan staff members.
A senior Taliban official has told The Associated Press that at least some of the 16 employees - probably the teachers - will be either sentenced to life in jail or death by hanging.
Privately, many of the international aid workers have been critical of the foreign employees of Shelter Now International for putting their Afghan staff at risk by visiting their homes, which is strictly forbidden.
Known as a missionary organization among expatriate workers in Afghanistan, Shelter Now International was forced to close in neighboring Pakistan during the early 1990s after its employees were said to be proselytizing in Afghan refugee camps.
One of the books the Taliban say they have confiscated from Shelter Now International in Afghanistan was entitled ``Sharing your Christian faith with Muslims,'' which the ruling militia considered a book about proselytizing.
``It is one thing to put yourself in danger. That's OK. But you don't have the right to put those you are responsible for in danger. That is criminal,'' said Karla Shefter, a German national who has worked 12 years in Afghanistan in the health field.
``It is very clear for any expatriate who works in Afghanistan you cannot preach Christianity. It is criminal in Taliban time, or any other time,'' she said.
The fear that the Afghan employees of Shelter Now International may receive the death penalty has made Afghans working for other Western aid organizations nervous. International aid workers say their Afghan staff no longer want to be seen in public with them.
In Afghanistan, where the average monthly income is $4 and jobs are scarce, employment with a Western aid organization has long been considered a coveted position.
``But I know that no Afghan in their heart will ever leave their religion,'' Shefter said.
The other six foreign aid workers being held have been identified by the Taliban as Germans George Taubmann, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf, and Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas.
Originally published September 04, 2001.
