Kabul (AsiaNews) – Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and his two Afghan interpreters run great risks after being captured by Taliban forces in southern Helmand province on suspicion of spying for the British. In Kabul military sources say that if they are tried and found guilty as the abductors claim, there is no hope for them. Still, everyone is waiting for an official confirmation.
Italian daily La Repubblica lost touch with its correspondent three days ago and new nothing about his fate until Qari Yousef Ahmadi, a man representing himself as a spokesman for Taliban commander mullah Dadullah, head of the south-western provinces, claimed responsibility for the abduction. “We are investigating whether they are British spies,” he said.
Italy’s ambassador to Afghanistan stated that so far there has been no official claim of responsibility. “We have not been contacted by anyone for a ransom or anything else,” he added.
“No one contacted us about the missing journalists. Our police had not been informed that a journalist was travelling south,” said a spokesman for the Afghan government.
Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D’Alema said he was under the impression that Mastrogiacomo “was not taken by a group of desperados but rather by organised Talibans.”
Experts told AsiaNews that “once you are arrested by Taliban soldiers martial law is enforced. If the hostages are found guilty there is no way out. In that case it becomes near impossible to find ways to negotiate a release.”