'I don't know if my parents are alive': Son of British couple in Taliban jail pleads for their release amid 'heart attack' concerns
The son of a couple imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan has issued an urgent appeal to the Taliban Foreign Minister for their release amid growing concerns over his parents' health.
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Speaking to LBC, the couple's son issued an urgent appeal to the Taliban to release his parents from the Afghan prison where they have been held for over six months.
He said it has now been six months that his parents have "been held without charge, without cause, without any accusation."
"They're just being held, it would seem, for some type of a political pawn. They've been told continuously that they've done nothing wrong and they'll be released in a few days, just a matter of days."
Mr Reynolds said he believes the time frame for his parents' release is shortening, as he has received reports of their poor health. Experts from the United Nations believe Peter Reynolds is likely to have suffered a minor heart attack or stroke in recent weeks and requires urgent medical attention.
He said his mother is "very weak and anaemic and malnourished. She's passed out and fainted a number of times. And then my dad's very, very concerning health situations."
"And I don't know when I wake up in the morning, I don't know if my parents are alive."
Read More: Elderly British couple imprisoned by Taliban have faced 29 'interrogations' since imprisonment
The couple's son said his plea is now to the Taliban, as "they're the ones who have the power in this situation to unlock the keys to the door and let them go to say they're innocent."
"Well, show that you actually care about justice, show that you care about law. Show that you care about dignity of life and humanity and people who have given their lives to love the people of Afghanistan or show some respect, show some honour and say, hey, you're, you're free to go.
"And if they want them to leave the country and never return, fine, so be it. It's their right. Let them walk them out of there."
"And how do I have hope? My hope is that this message gets to the Taliban. My hope is that the Foreign Minister Amir Mutaki, that he hears this and, out of respect, please let them go and let them return to the uk."
Mr Reynolds said he was allowed to speak to his parents "in the early stages", when his parents were held in separate prisons, during which time he said his father "shared a cell with murderers and was chained to them" in a maximum security prison.
"They'd be able to get out with a calling card and go to the prison yard and make a call to us and that was wonderful to hear their voices," he said.
"But that stopped when they were moved in May ... Well, they were told actually they were being released, and then they moved to a different facility where they're being held and that's when we lost a lot of contact. We've heard from them twice since May."
Earlier this week the Taliban foreign minister, Amir Khan Mutaki, rejected concerns about human rights violation related to the Reynolds imprisonment. Mutaki said the couple are in "constant contact" with their families, and that efforts to secure their release are underway.
In response to the Taliban minister's comments, Jonathan Reynolds said the Taliban have a "different definition of constant contact" and that the last time he heard from his parents was June 15, six weeks ago.
Mr Reynolds said: "If I was to take [Mutaki's] parents and bring them to my home and then lock them up in my basement and say, 'They're absolutely provided for. I give them three meals a day. They're free to go. Their human rights are not being violated.' Well, they're not free to go, are they? They're not free to go if they're locked in a basement, and I would say their human rights are being violated."
The British couple have lived in Afghanistan for 18 years. Their son said the couple decided to stay after the Taliban retook control of the country in 2021, despite warnings from the British Embassy that it would no longer have a presence in Afghanistan.
Mr Reynolds said: "it was very clear, resounding response from Mum and Dad saying, we didn't come here because we wanted to retire in a cushy seaside town. We came here because of the love for the people that we have."
Their son said the couple "knew the risks" and chose to stay in order to "help" the people of Afghanistan.
Mr Reynolds said: "So as some might hear this and think, why are we spending any amounts of energy and time to help them? If they knew what the risks are? My response would be, they're now 80 and 76 years old and they have done no wrong."
Barbie Reynolds, 76, and her husband Peter, 80, were arrested as they travelled to their home in Bamyan province, central Afghanistan, in February.
They have been held for five-and-a-half months without charge and, up until eight weeks ago, had been separated and detained in a maximum security prison.
The couple's children said they had written privately to the Taliban leadership twice and made public appeals for the release of their parents, who have run school training programmes for 18 years in the country, remaining after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Their daughter Sarah Entwistle said the siblings had held off from making a public appeal during the last two months in the hope it would encourage the Taliban to release their parents, but that there had been no progress.
The couple, who celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this week, were held up until eight weeks ago at the Pul-e-Charkhi prison in the capital, Kabul, their children said.
They were then transferred to the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), with the promise of release within two to three days, they said. Two further months have passed, with no sign of release.
While in Pul-e-Charkhi prison, the couple were said to have had access to phones and called their children every day from the prison yard.
The children said their parents had better conditions at the GDI but still had no bed or furniture and slept on a mattress on the floor.
Officials from the UK Foreign Office were allowed on an exceptional basis to visit the couple last Thursday to check on their welfare.
A spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of two British nationals who are detained in Afghanistan."