The couple, pictured smiling on Sky News as they arrived at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, were held without charge in a maximum security prison, including long periods of separation. They had lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades and ran a training and education organisation. Their son Jonathan Reynolds said the family was “thrilled” and “overwhelmed with thankfulness” that the couple had been released and had returned to the UK. A spokesman at the Taliban government’s foreign ministry, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, said on X the couple had “violated Afghan law” and were released from prison on Friday after a court hearing. He did not say what law the couple were accused of breaking.

Source: The Times September 20, 2025 15:52 UTC