Missionaries kidnapped by Taleban warned they face death
Tim Albone in Kabul and Leo Lewis in Tokyo
July 21, 2007

Taleban militants threatened to kill a group of South Korean Christians yesterday unless their country withdrew its personnel from Afghanistan.

The Koreans were seized at gunpoint as they travelled by bus from Kabul, the capital, to the southern city of Kandahar, where their church, known for its evangelical zeal, said that they would work in a hospital.

The Taleban forbid Christians from entering Afghanistan to convert Muslims, under threat of death. Yesterday Sayed Murard Shrifi, a religious cleric who is head of the public court in Baghlan, said: “In terms of punishment the one who comes to a Muslim country to convert people to their religion must face the strongest punishment. The first choice is death and the second life in prison.” the rest

Christian women seized by Taleban face stoning