Taliban Kidnappers Released Mohamad Safa Hasání

[10. 08. 2006] An Afghan colleague of Brno association Podané ruce, Mohamad Safa Hasání was held six days in captivity by Taliban fundamentalists. Shaken up, he was released to freedom on Tuesday, August 8, for a ransom of 30 thousand dollars.

An Afghan colleague of Brno association Podané ruce, Mohamad Safa Hasání was held six days in captivity by Taliban fundamentalists. Shaken up, he was released to freedom on Tuesday, August 8, for a ransom of 30 thousand dollars.


Podané ruce helps drug users not only in Brno, but also in Afghanistan. Two years ago, Podané ruce has started an ambitious project supported by the EU, and the Kabul doctor treats people in Afghanistan according to Brno experience. "He came to Brno and spent here several months. He learnt how to work with drug users, he received training with us," said Podané ruce´s Director Jindřich Vobořil for whom the kidnapping was also very hard. Their relationship has changed from work relationship to friendship. "He calls me his brother, he also introduced me to his family," said Vobořil. Brno therapists repeatedly go to Afghanistan to train local staff.

Doctor Safa Hasání was kidnapped by fundamentalists a day after a joint project of Podané ruce and the Kabul hospital had reached one of its goals. In the town of Herat near the border with Iran, a new clinic was open for people addicted to drugs. "He sent me a happy e-mail that we were granted permission from the ministry and that he could start. I was also supposed to attend the opening ceremony, but the date did not suit me very well," described Vobořil that it was good luck that he was not sitting in the car Taliban assaulted on the way back to Kabul. "Yesterday, just as the fundamentalists released Safa Hasání, I called him. He was shaken, describing me the horrors he had lived through in captivity," said Vobořil. The doctor was kept in the desert, with approximately one thousand of soldiers around. He saw them when they took off his blindfold. That was to make him see how they were able to kill. "They brought people whom they killed in front of him - for him to see what awaited him. But first they mutilated them, I don´t even want to describe that," said Vobořil.

They wanted one hundred thousand dollars for releasing the doctor. Finally, they were satisfied with less. "The colleagues of the Kabul hospital managed to collect 30 thousand among themselves and plead that the doctor actually helped the Afghan people," related Vobořil. The staff of Podané ruce and Vobořil plan to go to Afghanistan in October again. "No, I am not afraid, the danger has been clear to us from the very beginning. Our colleagues in Kabul risk much more, they have to live there all the time," said Vobořil.

Source: MF Dnes