Arrested journalist ‘stoned’ by Afghans

A journalist with French weekly Paris Match, who was arrested in Afghanistan after secretly entering the country disguised as a woman, was today paraded through streets as townspeople hurled stones at him.

Intelligence agents of Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban on Tuesday arrested reporter Michel Peyrard near the Afghan town of Jalalabad.

The Afghan Islamic Press reported that Peyrard, who has been placed under investigation for spying, was wearing a burqa - the full-length veil that the Taliban require women to wear in public.

According to radio reports today, Peyrard and the two Pakistanis he was arrested with were paraded through the streets of Jalalabad as people threw stones.

Meanwhile the managing editor of Paris Match, Olivier Royant, has been sent to Pakistan to try to win the release of the reporter.

He will try to speak with Taliban leaders there, editor-in-chief Alain Genestar said.

‘‘We have reason to hope, now,’’ Genestar said. ‘‘Yesterday, the Taliban were sure they had arrested a spy, and now, thanks to the information we were able to transmit to them, they are considering that Peyrard may be a journalist.’’

The Taliban ordered all foreign journalists to leave Afghanistan shortly after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Paris Match has used ‘‘all possible and imaginable means’’ to communicate to the Taliban that Peyrard was in Afghanistan as a reporter for the magazine, Genestar said.

He said the magazine had been communicating through France’s Foreign Ministry and the presidential Elysee palace.

Last month, British journalist Yvonne Ridley was arrested in the Jalalabad area after sneaking into Afghanistan. The Taliban initially accused her of being a spy, but she was released and sent to Pakistan on Monday.

Asked if he believes Peyrard will be released if the Taliban conclude that he is a journalist, Genestar said: ‘‘I want to believe it. Since they freed the English journalist, I can’t see why they would not release Michel Peyrard.’’

Peyrard’s decision to enter Afghanistan was a personal choice, Genestar said.

‘‘There was no pressure on him ... but a Paris Match reporter always goes into the field. It’s in their nature to go where things are happening.’’