British diplomat in talks with Taliban to release journalist

War on terrorism: Detainee

A senior British diplomat has had a face-to-face meeting with a Taliban official to push for the swift release of the arrested British journalist Yvonne Ridley, the Foreign Office said yesterday.

The British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Hilary Synnott, met a Taliban representative, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, in Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, to express concern over the capture of the Sunday Express chief reporter, who has been detained with her two guides near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, since Friday. He urged the Taliban to release her at the earliest opportunity.

A Foreign Office spokesman said officials had no new information on the whereabouts or well-being of Ms Ridley, aged 43, but were pursuing negotiations with the Taliban. "We have no more information on whether she will be charged and we have no message from her, but we are continuing to pursue the matter," he said.

The news was little comfort to the journalist's mother, Joyce, who is comforting Ms Ridley's eight-year-old daughter with the assurance that "mummy will be home soon". Mrs Ridley says she is frantic with worry after receiving no word from her daughter for the past six days. "I really just want a message from her to tell us she is all right and for her to know we are thinking of her," she said yesterday.

Mrs Ridley, 74, who lives in County Durham, is in close contact with the Red Cross, which is trying to establish a line of communication with the detained journalist.

A spokeswoman for the Red Cross was unable to confirm whether the Afghan Red Crescent had been able to contact Ms Ridley, who was arrested after crossing the Pakistani border in disguise and without either a passport or an Afghan visa, which she had been unable to obtain.