The Afghan ruling Taliban released on Monday the detained British journalist, Yvonne Ridley, according to a report by the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press ( AIP).
Yvonne Ridley, accompanied by an official from the Taliban Foreign Ministry Rahimullah Janqi arrived at Torkham check post at Pak-Afghan border at 19:30 (Pakistan Standard Time) Monday evening, said AIP.
The report said there was no representative from the British government waiting at the check post, adding that the British journalist was now heading for Peshawar, capital of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province.
She will be handed over to the Pakistani officer from the Khyber Agency in Peshawar after arrival, said AIP.
Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, Taliban chief representative in Islamabad, on Sunday held talks with British diplomats on the release of Yvonne Ridley, journalist from the London-based Sunday Express who was detained more than one week ago for illegally entering Afghanistan.
The two sides reached a final decision during the meeting that the detained journalist should be formally handed over to the British government at Torkham check post at the Afghan-Pak border.
Yvonne Ridley was arrested by the Taliban authorities on September 28 in Dar Baba district, some 60 kilometers southeast from Jalalabad, capital of Nangarhar province in Afghanistan. She was charged by the Taliban authorities with entering the country without any passport or visa.
（ Xinhua News Agency 10/08/2001）
