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TV shows kidnapped aid worker
19/08/2007 17:10 - (SA)
Kabul - A private Afghan television station broadcast on Sunday what it said was a video of a female German aid worker who was kidnapped a day earlier from a Kabul restaurant.
The woman, shown sitting on the floor inside a room, her head covered with a white scarf, identified herself as Christina Maier. She said "I am OK" and then read a letter in the local language, Dari, calling for the release of unnamed prisoners.
She was prompted to make remarks both in English and in Dari by a man speaking in broken English. The man then instructed her to show a copy of her German passport and an ID card issued by the aid group she works for.
Tolo TV, which broadcast the video, did not say how it obtained it.
"I am fine. There are no threats against me. I want my country to do what it can for my release," she said in Dari, reading from a piece of paper, occasionally looking toward the camera.
A male voice off camera prompted her to say, "to help" and told her to also use the word "urgent".
"Please help for my release, and help me," she said.
A man wearing sunglasses, his head covered with a scarf, later appeared in the video and demanded that the Afghan government release a number of unidentified prisoners. He said a member of their group would provide the government with a list.
"We are not bad people. We are a special network," the man said at the end of the video. He did not identify the group or say whether it has ties to the Taliban or other insurgent groups in Afghanistan.
Germany's Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the video.
- AP
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