Heather Mercer - Afghan Trial

Afghan Trial

Mercer arrived in Afghanistan in March 2001. She and another American, Dayna Curry, were working for a German-based Christian group called Shelter Now International.

Under the rule of the Taliban, foreigners who preach Christianity faced jail time and expulsion. Sixteen Afghans who were allegedly converted by Mercer and her associates faced the death penalty unless they renounced Christianity.

On August 3, 2001, the Taliban arrested the two women as they preached Christianity in a private home in Kabul. After their arrest, the Taliban raided the group's offices and arrested the six other aid workers that Mercer and Curry were teamed up with. Taliban officials said they found evidence of proselytizing, including Bibles in local languages.

Their trial began on September 1, 2001. On September 13 the trial was suspended and relatives of the detained aid workers were ordered to leave the country. The trial resumed on September 30. On October 6, the Taliban made an offer to release Mercer and Curry, if the United States stopped its military action against Afghanistan. During her captivity, she met the British journalist Yvonne Ridley, who was arrested near the Pakistan border and brought to the same prison in Kabul. Yvonne Ridley informed her about 11 September and the subsequent military actions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. On November 15, the women, along with the six other imprisoned aid workers, were freed from prison by anti-Taliban forces and flown to safety in Islamabad, Pakistan.

After their release, and upon their return to the U.S., Mercer and Curry met with President George W. Bush at the White House on November 26, 2001.