October 8, 2001
Baylor graduates still awaiting
verdict in Afghanistan detention
___By John Hall
___Staff Writer
___KABUL, Afghanistan--The trial of eight foreign aid workers--including two Baylor University graduates--who were arrested Aug. 3 resumed Sept. 29 for the first time since the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C., Sept. 11.
___Dayna Curry, 29, and Heather Mercer, 24, are the only Americans among the detainees, all of whom worked with the relief group of Shelter Now. The detainees include four Germans, two Australians and 16 Afghan nationals. The internationals face jail time and expulsion from the country if convicted of evangelizing, while the Afghans face death.
___Taliban Supreme Court justices allowed the Americans' lawyer, Atif Ali Khan, who is familiar with Islamic court law and speaks the language of the Taliban court, three to 15 days to translate the six pages of charges waged against the women. He has visited with the women several times since the trial began.
___A State Department official said that during a four-hour visit with the women Oct. 2, Khan gave the women letters from their parents, who are staying in Islamabad, Pakistan, following the evacuation of all foreigners from Afghanistan Sept. 13. He also took letters from the women that were to be delivered to their parents and gave them food, medicine, some personal items and some money.
___The official said the Baylor graduates, who were escorted into the courtroom by armed guards according to some reports, were in good spirits and health. Their lawyer, who is deciding whether to stay in Afghanistan or work in Pakistan, continually updates U.S. officials and the women's families. He is not sure how long the trial will last, the State Department official said.
___He met with several Taliban officials Sept. 29 as well as some of the judges that will participate in the trial and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs consular chief, according to Richard Boucher, another spokesman for the State Department.
___Despite growing tensions between the Taliban government, which controls about 90 percent of Afghanistan, and a U.S.-led coalition aimed at fighting terrorism, Taliban Supreme Court Chief Justice Noor Mohammed Saqib assured the internationals they would have a fair trial according to Islamic law, the Associated Press reported.
___U.S. President George W. Bush has continued not only to ask that theTaliban turn over Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect behind the terrorist attacks against the United States, but is now calling for it to "release all foreign nationals, including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned."
___To peacefully work toward the release of the detainees, Taliban officials agreed to allow Jesse Jackson to assist in the dialog between the Taliban and the U.S. government. Jackson helped to release three American soldiers captured by Serbs in Yugoslavia in 1999.
___Jackson declined to go to Afghanistan, however, saying Sept. 30 that "a physical mission to Afghanistan at this time would be too perilous and without a reasonable risk ratio for achieving the objectives."
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