The children of a British couple held by the Taliban without charge in a maximum security prison have denounced their parents’ “cruel and unjust” detention.
Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife Barbie, 75, were detained more than six weeks ago while travelling to their home in the Bamyan province, in what the Taliban claimed last month was a “misunderstanding” that they had fake Afghan passports.
The couple, who married in Kabul in 1970 and have run school training programmes in Afghanistan for 18 years, were arrested on 1 February alongside an American friend, Faye Hall, and a translator from the couple’s Rebuild training business.
Taliban official Abdul Mateen Qani told the BBC last month: “A series of considerations is being taken into account, and after evaluation, we will endeavour to release them as soon as possible.”
But in what she described as a “shocking escalation”, their daughter Sarah Entwhistle told the Sunday Times last week that her parents had been separated and moved to a maximum security prison.
With Ms Entwhistle warning that her father’s health had “significantly deteriorated”, the Reynolds’ four adult children have also urged the Taliban to stop denying their father medical care – and to release their parents immediately.
In a statement reported by Sky News on Monday, they warned that Mr Reynolds is reportedly suffering from a chest infection, a double eye infection and serious digestive issues due to alleged poor nutrition.
“Our parents’ detention is cruel and unjust,” they said.
“Denying Dad urgent medical care violates basic human rights and contradicts the principles of mercy and compassion central to Islam, especially during Ramadan.
“We urge those in power to show goodwill and release them immediately.”
The reason for their detention remains unclear. The couple, who originally met at the University of Bath, remained in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover in 2021, having set up an agency named Rebuild, which provides training in schools, non-profit organisations and businesses aimed at “fostering healthy relationships”.
With the Taliban having banned all girls’ education beyond primary school and preventing women from working, it has been suggested that the Reynolds may have been detained due to a course they ran for women which taught mothering skills.
But the Sunday Times reported that Ms Entwistle insisted her parents had local permission for the course and that her mother had been the first woman to receive a certificate of appreciation from the Taliban.
And while staff at Rebuild have since reportedly been interrogated to determine whether there was a missionary component to the training, both employees and the family strongly deny that they were spreading Christian teachings.
