Harsh conditions faced by British couple held by Taliban
They were initially held separately in a maximum-security prison in Kabul, with Peter chained alongside criminals, before being transferred to the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI).
Their son, Jonathan Reynolds, described their harsh conditions, including a lack of beds and furniture, and expressed grave concerns about their deteriorating health.
Peter Reynolds is suffering from Parkinson's and heart issues, while Barbie Reynolds experiences numbness, blue extremities, and signs of malnutrition.
The couple had lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, running education projects, and UN human rights experts have warned they are at risk of "irreparable harm or even death."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Cambodia calls for ‘immediate ceasefire' with Thailand as deadly clashes enter a third day
Cambodia wants an 'immediate ceasefire' with Thailand, the country's envoy to the United Nations has said, as fighting that has left 32 people dead continued for its third consecutive day Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the clashes, which are the bloodiest in more than a decade, and have claimed 19 lives in Thailand and 13 in Cambodia. Cambodia's UN ambassador made the ceasefire call after an emergency meeting held behind closed doors late on Friday in New York. Cherdchai Chaivaivid, Thailand's envoy to the UN urged Cambodia to 'immediately cease all hostilities and acts of aggression, and resume dialogue in good faith'. A long-running border dispute between the two countries erupted into intense fighting on Thursday, with heavy artillery and airstrikes, prompting the UN Secretary-General to call for the 'utmost restraint'. Malaysia, which chairs the regional bloc that includes both countries, called for either side to stand down and offered to mediate. The US and China have also expressed concern over the developments. 'Cambodia asked for an immediate ceasefire – unconditionally – and we also call for the peaceful solution of the dispute,' Cambodia's UN ambassador Chhea Keo said after the UN meeting. On Saturday morning, the Cambodian ministry of national defence accused Thailand of firing five heavy artillery shells into multiple locations in Pursat Province, on the southern side of their shared border, saying it condemned such 'unprovoked and premeditated act of aggression'. Thailand accused Cambodia of initiating an attack in neighbouring Trat province, and said that Thai naval forces had successfully pushed back 'the incursion' by 05.40am. Cambodia and Thailand's border dispute dates back more than a century to disagreements over colonial-era maps. Tensions have been running high since May, when a Cambodian solider was killed a brief exchange of fire, but escalated further this week when Thai solders were injured by landmines, which Thai officials claimed had been freshly planted – an allegation Cambodia has denied. Thailand responded by recalling its ambassador to Cambodia, and saying it would expel Cambodia's envoy in Bangkok, and, on Thursday morning fighting erupted at multiple points along the border. Both sides blamed each other for opening fire first, and have accused the other side of violating international norms. In Thailand 19 people have been killed, including 13 civilians and six soldiers, while 29 soldiers and 30 civilians were wounded. In Cambodia, officials reported 12 further deaths, five soldiers and eight civilians, bringing its death toll to 13. More than 138,000 people have been evacuated from Thailand's border regions, its health ministry said, with families sheltering at temples, schools and at municipality centres. Cambodian authorities said more than 23,000 people have evacuated from areas near the border. Thailand's foreign ministry spokesperson Nikorndej Balankura told AFP that Bangkok was open to talks, possibly aided by Malaysia. 'We are ready, if Cambodia would like to settle this matter via diplomatic channels, bilaterally, or even through Malaysia, we are ready to do that. But so far we have not had any response,' Nikorndej told AFP, speaking before the UN meeting had been held. Earlier, acting Thai prime minister Phumtham Wechayachai had warned that if the situation escalated, 'it could develop into war.' 'For now, it remains limited to clashes,' he told reporters in Bangkok, adding that Thailand was taking action to 'protect our land and the sovereignty of our nation.' Both countries have traded blame over the clashes. Thailand accused Cambodia of targeting civilian infrastructure, including a hospital hit by shells and a petrol station hit by at least one rocket. Cambodia has accused Thailand of using cluster munitions. Dozens of kilometres in several areas of the 800km border are contested. Fighting previously broke out between 2008 and 2011, leaving at least 28 people dead and tens of thousands displaced. The latest dispute has been exacerbated by a feud that has broken out between the fathers of the prime ministers of Cambodia and Thailand. Hun Sen, an authoritarian ruler who handed power to his son Hun Manet in 2023, and Thailand's former populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra, whose daughter Paetongtarn Shinawatra became prime minister in 2024, both remain highly influential in their countries. They were once considered close friends but are now embroiled in a bitter dispute, trading insults, threats and counter claims on social media. Thaksin visited Ubon Ratchathani, in northeastern Thailand, on Saturday morning, and denied the families' feud was the cause of the clashes, according to local media reports. He condemned Cambodia's actions as 'appalling' and said attacks from the Thai side followed strict protocols and were targeted at military sites.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Shackled, malnourished and suffering convulsions: son of UK couple imprisoned in Afghanistan warns situation ‘escalating' and they could die
At one point in the five and a half months they have been imprisoned in Afghanistan, Barbie and Peter Reynolds were kept in underground cells, deprived of sunlight for six weeks. Their health is deteriorating rapidly. Peter, 80, has been chained and shackled, and recently had convulsions on the floor, much to the alarm of Barbie, 75, who herself has suffered from malnourishment and reports her hands and feet have turned blue. 'There's a chance they die in there, and it's escalating pretty fast,' their youngest son, Jonathan, 45, said. 'They need to get to the hospital immediately.' Since the British couple's arrest on 1 February, the Reynolds family have been thrown into a nightmare, watching from afar as their elderly parents have struggled in a brutal prison system where they are being been held without charge. At first, Peter and Barbie would call their family regularly from prison but there has been no contact from them for more than a month, and the UN has intervened to warn they may die in 'degrading conditions' if they do not receive hospital treatment soon. Officials from the British Foreign Office met the couple in prison last week, but there has still been no official confirmation of plans for their release. The couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years, running training and education programmes. Since the Taliban regained control in 2021 they have banned education for girls over 12, and women are not allowed to work. But Barbie became the first woman to receive a certificate of appreciation from the Taliban, which the family said showed how their work was accepted in the local context. After meeting at the University of Bath in the 1960s, Peter and Barbie married in Afghanistan 55 years ago, and vowed to dedicate their lives to the country. Barbie spent many of her childhood summers there helping at an institution for blind people. Jonathan said he had a vivid memory of sitting on his parents' bed, aged 15, asking them what he should do with his life. 'They said, one of the best things you can do is live in the service of others. Live to help other people, and you'll find the greatest joy and the greatest reward,' he said from his home in Chicago. 'The reason I tell that story is I think it sheds light on who they are as people.' After the Taliban takeover, the couple decided to stay despite the security risks. 'They said: 'How could we possibly leave these people we love in their darkest hour?' But the warning was, if you stay, you're on your own,' Jonathan said. 'They knew full well that something like this could happen. 'We've counted the cost as a family for that. They have always said: 'If this does happen, don't trade us for some terrorist who's in prison, and don't pay a penny in ransom money.' But they never told us what they did want us to do, which has been really, really difficult.' At first, Peter said he would not leave prison without Joya, an Afghan interpreter who was arrested alongside the couple and has since been released. 'Dad was like: 'You'll have to kill me. Do not let him stay in here. He has done nothing wrong,'' Jonathan recalled. 'I think they could have maybe got out a lot earlier but those kind of demands, although selfless, made it more difficult.' Jonathan said his father had remained unflinchingly polite and upbeat, and has downplayed his health problems. 'He'll say something like: 'Oh, we're being treated very well. I have a lovely mattress on the floor and there's a bathroom nearby.' I'm like: 'OK, but you're still in prison, unjustly,'' he said. His mother, he said, had given a more honest account of their time in prison, reporting that there were women who had been there for months because they were not allowed to leave without a male to escort them. Barbie and Peter have five children, 17 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, who live across the UK and US. They last all convened with Peter and Barbie about 18 months ago in Dubai, and are a close family despite the geographical distance between them. 'It has been painful, stressful and emotionally taxing. The nature of my parents, they raised kids who are very much: 'Hold my beer and I'll fix this thing',' he said. 'We're all fixers and we're all make-it-happen people. And we are completely stuck.' Despite the situation, the family have found moments of humour. 'Every time my dad calls, even from prison in Afghanistan, he says: 'Hello son, is now a good time?' What do you mean is now a good time?' Jonathan said. 'My brother would actually joke around and say: 'Actually I'm in a pedicure right now, can you call back in 20 minutes?'' Jonathan said he had seen negative comments about his parents on social media, and was aware of how some people perceived the case. 'I have seen people saying: 'Let them die there, we're not using British taxpayer money on this,'' he said. 'But this is not just an emotional plea from some adult kids saying: 'Somebody help my parents because they were on vacation in a place they shouldn't have been.' That's not what this is …. They know full well the risks, but they are being held in an unjust manner, and they are innocent.'
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Families of Americans slain in the West Bank lose hope for justice
When Sayfollah Musallet of Tampa, Florida, was beaten to death by Israeli settlers in the West Bank two weeks ago, he became the fourth Palestinian-American killed in the occupied territory since the war in Gaza began. No one has been arrested or charged in Musallet's slaying – and if Israel's track record on the other three deaths is any guide, it seems unlikely to happen. Yet Musallet's father and a growing number of U.S. politicians want to flip the script. 'We demand justice,' Kamel Musallet said at his 20-year-old son's funeral earlier this week. 'We demand the U.S. government do something about it.' Still, Musallet and relatives of the other Palestinian- Americans say they doubt anyone will be held accountable, either by Israel or the U.S. They believe the first word in their hyphenated identity undercuts the power of the second. And they say Israel and its law enforcement have made them feel like culprits — by imposing travel bans and, in some cases, detaining and interrogating them. Although the Trump administration has stopped short of promising investigations of its own, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem has urged Israel to investigate the circumstances of each American's death. Writing on X on July 15, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he'd asked Israel to 'aggressively investigate the murder" of Musallet and that "there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act." Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and 28 other Democratic senators have also called for an investigation. In a letter this week to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Attorney General Pam Bondi, they pointed to the 'repeated lack of accountability" after the deaths of Musallet and other Americans killed in the West Bank. Israel's military, police and Shin Bet domestic security agency did not respond to requests for comment about the Palestinian-Americans' deaths. Families have demanded independent investigations American-born teenagers Tawfic Abdel Jabbar and Mohammad Khdour were killed in early 2024 by Israeli fire while driving in the West Bank. In April 2025, 14-year-old Amer Rabee, a New Jersey native, was shot in the head at least nine times by Israeli forces, according to his father, as he stood among a grove of green almond trees in his family's village. In the immediate aftermath of both cases, Israeli authorities said that forces had fired on rock throwers, allegations disputed by the families and by testimony obtained by the AP. Israel pledged to investigate the cases further, but has released no new findings. The teens' families told the AP they sought independent investigations by American authorities, expressing doubts that Israel would investigate in good faith. According to the Israeli watchdog group Yesh Din, killings of Palestinians in the West Bank rarely result in investigations — and when they do, indictments are uncommon. The U.S. Justice Department has jurisdiction to investigate the deaths of its own citizens abroad, but does so after it gets permission from the host government and usually works with the host country's law enforcement. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem declined to say whether the U.S. has launched independent probes into the killings. A spokesperson for the embassy said in a statement that investigations are 'underway' in Israel over the deaths of the four Americans and that its staff is pressing the Israeli authorities to move quickly and transparently. In a statement to AP, the embassy spokesperson said, 'We continue to press for full, transparent, and rapid investigations in each case and understand that they are underway' in Israel adding that consular staff were in regular communication with Israeli authorities. Sen. Van Hollen said that when the U.S deals with Israel it 'either doesn't pursue these cases with the vigor necessary, or we don't get any serious cooperation.' 'And then instead of demanding cooperation and accountability, we sort of stop — and that's unacceptable. It's unacceptable to allow American citizens to be killed with impunity," the Maryland Democrat said. Israel says it holds soldiers and settlers accountable Israel says it holds soldiers and settlers to account under the bounds of the law, and that the lack of indictments does not mean a lack of effort. A prominent recent case was the death of Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian-American journalist for broadcaster Al Jazeera killed in the West Bank in 2022. An independent U.S. analysis of the circumstances of her death found that fire from an Israeli soldier was 'likely responsible' for her killing but said it appeared to be an accident. Despite an Israeli military investigation with similar conclusions, no one was ever disciplined. Violence by Israeli forces and settlers has flared in the West Bank since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023. More than 950 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war in Gaza, according to the United Nations. Some have been militants killed in fighting with Israel, though the dead have also included stone-throwers and bystanders uninvolved in violence. Instead of justice, restrictions and detentions Rather than a path toward justice, the families of Khdour, Rabee, and Abdel Jabbar say they've faced only challenges since the deaths. Khdour, born in Miami, Florida, was shot and killed in April 2024 while driving in Biddu, a West Bank town near Jerusalem where he lived since age 2. U.S. investigators visited his family after the killing, his family said. Abdel Jabbar was killed while driving down a dirt road close to Al Mazra as-Sharqiya, his village in the northern West Bank. Khdour's cousin, Malek Mansour, the sole witness, told the AP he was questioned by both Israeli and American investigators and repeated his testimony that shots came from a white pickup on Israeli territory. He believes the investigators did not push hard enough to figure out who killed his cousin. 'The matter ended like many of those who were martyred (killed),' said Hanan Khdour, Khdour's mother. Two months after the death, Israeli forces raided the family's home and detained Mohammad's brother, Omar Khdour, 23, also an American citizen. Videos taken by family and shared with the AP show Omar Khdour blindfolded and handcuffed as Israeli soldiers in riot gear lead him out of the building and into a military jeep. He said he was threatened during questioning, held from 4 am to 3 pm, and warned not to pursue the case. 'Here, being American means nothing' Omar Khdour said Israeli soldiers at checkpoints have prevented him from leaving the West Bank to visit Israel or Jerusalem. Two other American fathers of Palestinian-Americans killed since Oct. 7, 2023 reported similar restrictions. Hafeth Abdel Jabbar, Tawfic Abdel Jabbar's father, said he and his wife were blocked from leaving the West Bank for seven months. His son, Amir Abdel Jabbar, 22, remains restricted. The father of Amer Rabee says he and his wife have also been stuck in the West Bank since their son's killing. He showed AP emails from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem in which a consular official told him that Israel had imposed a travel ban on him, though it was unclear why. Israeli authorities did not respond to comment on the detentions or travel restrictions. Rabee said that in a land where violence against Palestinians goes unchecked, his family's American passports amounted to nothing more than a blue book. 'We are all American citizens,' Rabee said. 'But here, for us, being American means nothing."
