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A British couple who were reunited with their family in the UK after being released from almost eight months in detention in Afghanistan have said they feared being executed by the Taliban.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife, Barbie, 76, who arrived at Heathrow on Saturday, said it was never explained to them why they were imprisoned in Afghanistan after their arrest in February.
“We began to think that we would never be released, or that we were even being held until we were executed,” Peter told the Sunday Times. He added: “We are bewildered as to why any of this happened and are very happy that this ordeal is over.”
Barbie said: “They told us nothing. Even when we were taken to Kabul airport we thought maybe we were just flying somewhere for medical treatment.” Instead, they were put on flight to Doha, the capital of Qatar, whose officials had led negotiations for their release.
Barbie said the toughest part of the past eight months had been “seeing my 80-year-old husband struggling to get into the back of a police truck with his hands and ankles chained”.
The pair, who ran a charitable training programme that had been approved by the Taliban, were arrested on 1 February with their interpreter, Juya, and an American friend, Faye Hall.
The arrest came when they were returning to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan. Hall was released in March after negotiations that were also led by Qatari officials.
The fate of Juya is unknown. As well as interpreting for the couple, he also helped care for Peter Reynolds, who requires regular heart medication, during his detention.
He was prevented from interpreting for the couple during court proceedings, to the concern of their family. In March, their daughter Sarah Entwistle, who also campaigned for Juya’s release, told the Guardian: “Mum is obviously extremely concerned that without a competent interpreter, their case cannot be accurately or fairly represented and [they] will not be able to properly follow or engage in the proceedings, in serious breach of their rights.”
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The couple’s four children expressed “immense joy” at the release of their parents. Their son, Jonathan Reynolds, told the BBC that he was “ecstatic and massively grateful” to those who had been involved in securing their release.
In a joint statement on Friday, their four children said: “This experience has reminded us of the power of diplomacy, empathy and international cooperation.”
Peter and Barbie Reynolds were first held in a maximum security facility, “then in underground cells, without daylight, before being transferred” to the intelligence services in Kabul, UN experts have said.
The couple married in a newly opened church in Kabul in 1970 and spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan, running educational programmes for women and children. When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, the couple remained in Afghanistan against the advice of the British embassy.
Despite their ordeal, Barbie said they hoped to return. She said: “We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can. We are Afghan citizens.”
Their son said: “They have not just a heart for the people of Afghanistan, but they have strategy as well, and the work they’ve been doing has been very fruitful and has a massively positive impact.”
On Friday, the Taliban foreign ministry spokesperson Abdul Qahar Balkhi said the couple “had violated the laws of Afghanistan” and were released from custody “following the judicial process”.
