The Taliban has denied that the rights of a British couple being held in a prison in Afghanistan are being violated.
This comes after claims from the couple’s family and the UN that they are in desperate need of healthcare and were “chained to murderers” in maximum-security facilities.
Peter and Barbie Reynolds, both in their 70s, were arrested in early February and taken from their home in central Bamiyan to Kabul, the Afghan capital.
The couple run a group that provides education and training programmes. They have been held without charge, their family said.
On Monday, human rights experts from the UN called for the couple’s release, warning that their health was quickly deteriorating.
The experts said the pair were at risk of irreversible harm or death.
On Wednesday, at a media briefing in Kabul, the Taliban’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi rejected those allegations.
“They are in constant contact with their families,” he said.
“Consular services are available. Efforts are underway to secure their release. These steps have not yet been completed.
“Their human rights are being respected. They are being given full access to treatment, contact and accommodation.”
Mr Muttaqi did not say what steps were being taken to secure the Reynolds’ release.
The couple’s time in detention has included time in a maximum-security facility and later in underground cells, without sunlight, according to the UN experts.
They were then moved to above-ground cells at the General Directorate of Intelligence in Kabul.
Peter needs heart medication and, during his detention, he has had two eye infections and intermittent tremors in his head and down his left arm. He also recently collapsed, the experts said.
Barbie, meanwhile, suffers from anaemia and remains weak.
Officials from the UK Foreign Ministry visited the couple on 17 July, family members said.
Peter and Barbie sleep on a mattress on the floor, while Peter’s face is red, peeling and bleeding, likely due to the return of skin cancer that urgently needs removing, they said in a statement.
“We, their four adult children, have written privately to the Taliban leadership twice, pleading for them to uphold their beliefs of compassion, mercy, fairness, and human dignity," the children said.
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