Taliban Tolerance Watch

Last week, the South Korean missionaries held hostage for more than a month by the Taliban revealed details of their captivity in a press conference. It comes as no surprise that the Taliban were typically barbarous in their behavior. According to the former hostages, some of their guards even threatened to kill them if they didn't convert to Islam. The BBC has the details:

The former hostages said they feared for their lives at times when their captors turned violent.

"We were beaten with a tree branch or kicked around. Some kidnappers threatened us with death at gunpoint to force us to follow them in chanting their Islamic prayer for conversion," said Jae Chang-hee.

"I was beaten many times. They pointed a rifle and bayonet at me and tried to force me to convert."

He said the group "lived like slaves. We had to level the ground for motorbikes, and get water and make a fire".

Another of the group, Yu Jung-hwa, described how she thought she was going to die.

"The most difficult moment, when I had a big fear of death, was when the Taleban shot [a] video.

"All 23 of us leaned against a wall and armed Taleban aimed their guns at us, and a pit was before me.

"They said they will save us if we believe in Islam. I almost fainted at the time and I still cannot look at cameras," she said.

(Emphasis added-DD; Agence France Presse has more on this story)