Journalist's daughter returns to school

The eight-year-old daughter of Yvonne Ridley the British journalist being held in Afghanistan returned to boarding school today after being comforted by relatives.

For the past two days Joyce and Allan Ridley have been caring for their granddaughter Daisy after her mother - their daughter - was seized by the

Taliban authorities when she entered Afghanistan illegally.

Mr Ridley, 77 and his 74-year-old wife have been anxiously awaiting news of their daughter Yvonne at their detached County Durham home and gently explaining to Daisy, who is nine on Wednesday, about her mother’s ‘‘adventure’’.

Reports from Afghanistan today said the Taliban has sent a special team to the northeastern city of Jalalabad to investigate the 43-year-old journalist’s case.

Ms Ridley was reportedly being detained in a house with a garden, and was free to roam around the compound. She was being provided with clean clothes, food four or five times a day and cigarettes, the Afghan Islamic Press, quoted Taliban sources as saying.

On being told of the reports from Afghanistan that Yvonne was being treated fairly, Mrs Ridley said: ‘‘That doesn’t surprise me, she will have probably insisted on those things.

‘‘Knowing Yvonne she will get her own way during this.

‘‘I have been wondering about how she has been getting her clothes changed but knowing Yvonne she will be demanding things from them.’’

Mrs Ridley added that she was more hopeful about the whole situation after being told by Yvonne’s colleagues that she would be released once her journalistic credentials were confirmed.

She added: ‘‘I have been told by Yvonne’s colleagues that the Taliban have said that if she can prove she is a journalist she will be released.

‘‘A reporter has been sent out to get her things from the hotel and among them will be her passport and we are hopeful of her being released.’’

Mr and Mrs Ridley took Daisy back to her boarding school in Windermere, Cumbria today from where they had collected her on Friday afternoon.

Mrs Ridley said that Daisy was coping well after being told of her mother’s ‘‘adventures’’ abroad.

She added: ‘‘I don’t think she realises what it’s all about.

‘‘We have told her about it and that her mummy is on a big adventure but we don’t let her see that we are worried and have played it down a lot.

‘‘She just listens and does not show a lot of emotion but when she gets tired she starts to say that she wants her mummy back.’’

Ms Ridley was arrested on Friday along with two Afghan companions in the Dour Daba district of eastern Afghanistan, the Taliban reported.

She was taken to Jalalabad for investigation on possible espionage charges.

The Afghan Islamic Press, quoting Taliban sources, said the special team wanted to determine if she was a spy.

The team did not know how long the investigation would last. It did not say what had happened to the two Afghans arrested with her.