Taliban take pregnant journalist ‘betrayed’ by New Zealand into labor

A pregnant New Zealand journalist was abducted by the Taliban in Afghanistan and has not been able to return to her country for childbirth due to strict anti-Govt rules. “I felt betrayed,” Charlotte Bellis told New Zealand Radio from Kabul.

In an open letter to the New Zealand Herald, the journalist explained that he had worked for the Al-Jazeera channel in Afghanistan and that when he returned to Doha, the headquarters of the media, he realized that he was going to have a baby. .

Since it was illegal to be unmarried and pregnant in Qatar, she kept her pregnancy a secret and was ready to return to New Zealand, which closed its borders in March 2020 due to the epidemic, allowing only its own citizens. .

New Zealand closed its borders in March 2020 due to the epidemic

When he learned that the journalist could not benefit from any humiliation for his return, he called key Taliban leaders, who returned to Afghanistan and offered to give birth in his home country, where his wife, a Belgian photographer, resides.

“We are happy for you, you can come, you have no problem. Don’t worry, everything will be fine, ”the Taliban assured him, he told the New Zealand Herald. “When I needed it, the New Zealand government told me it was not welcome,” the journalist lamented.

Bellis, who had previously asked what the Taliban would do to guarantee the rights of women and girls, said it was “contradictory” to ask his own government the same question now.

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After going public and seeking the help of lawyers about the problems he was facing, New Zealand officials contacted Charlotte Bellis and said they would reconsider the rejected application.

Chris Hipkins, the minister of New Zealand’s Govt-19, said in a statement that he had asked the authorities to verify that all procedures in the case had been properly followed, adding that “at first glance it deserves further clarification”.