Friday, September 28, 2001

Baylor grads remain captive in Afghanistan
By Stephen Dove
The Lariat

WACO (U-WIRE) — The lawyer for two Baylor University graduates detained in Afghanistan is still unable to enter the country to consult with his clients, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in a press briefing this week.

Dayna Curry, 29, and Heather Mercer, 24, were arrested by Afghanistan’s Taliban government on Aug. 3 along with four German, two Australian and at least 16 Afghan aid workers associated with Shelter Now International, a German aid organization dedicated to meeting the needs of people displaced by war. The eight foreign aid workers are reportedly being tried before the Taliban’s supreme court on charges of preaching Christianity.

The State Department announced last week that a Pakistani lawyer who is familiar with Islamic Shariah law had been appointed to represent Curry and Mercer. Taliban officials have not given U.S. representatives in neighboring Pakistan an update on the trial or welfare of the two women since Friday, Boucher said in the briefing.

However, he said the status of the women was discussed at a Sunday meeting between Taliban and U.S. officials.

“I would say now that we have not been able to get much information on the trial and the legal situation,” Boucher said. “We are in touch with the families; we are in touch with the lawyer.”

Mercer’s mother and father and Curry’s mother went to Afghanistan soon after the Taliban arrested their daughters. All three parents, as well as U.S. diplomats, were moved to Islamabad, Pakistan on Sept. 13 after the attacks on the United States and bombing in Afghanistan’s capital city, Kabul.

Danny Mulkey, an assistant pastor at Antioch Community Church, is also in Islamabad with the women’s parents and U.S. diplomats. Curry and Mercer are both members of Antioch.

Jimmy Seibert, pastor of Antioch, has previously said a representative of the church will stay in Pakistan until the girls are released.

Tuesday’s State Department press briefing was one the of first times since the Sept. 11 attack on the United States that government officials have discussed the status of the detained women.

Friends of Curry and Mercer had expressed concern recently that the women might be forgotten by the government and media as the nation focused on the search for suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, who is believed to be living in Afghanistan.

However, in his Sept. 20 address to the nation, President George W. Bush acknowledged Curry and Mercer’s situation and demanded their release.

“Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens, you have unjustly imprisoned,” Bush said to the Taliban in the midst of calling for the regime to turn over suspected terrorists.

Jeannie McGinnis, a former roommate of Mercer, said she and other members of Antioch are encouraged that the nation’s leaders have resumed speaking publicly about Curry and Mercer’s detainment.

“My hope is not in the government; my hope is in God,” McGinnis said. “However, I do believe that God will use the government. I feel like we have been praying for our leaders and for wisdom, and they are doing the right thing.”