KABUL, Afghanistan, (News Agencies) —  Three Western diplomats arrived Tuesday in Kabul hoping to see eight foreign aid workers held on charges of trying to convert Muslims to Christianity. The Taliban Islamist movement has said there will be no consular access to the workers (Read photo caption below).
      THE DIPLOMATS planned to lobby for the release of two Americans, two Australians, four Germans and 16 Afghans affiliated with the German-based Christian relief agency Shelter Now International who are in their second week of captivity.
      The Taliban’s supreme ruler sentenced the aid workers Sunday to three to 10 days in jail after Taliban officials seized what they called a massive collection of Christian material, an official newspaper reported. The aid workers will be expelled within 48 hours of serving their sentence, ruled Mullah Mohammed Omar, according to a report on official radio.
      “If this is correct, then we would view this as a welcome development,” said John Kincannon, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in neighboring Pakistan.
      It was not clear how the Taliban would rule on the 16 Afghan staff members, who have been held in a separate, undisclosed location although none has admitted becoming an apostate. For Afghans, the penalty for proselytizing is death, but for non-Muslim foreigners it is a jail term and expulsion.
      The Taliban confiscated from the group several Bibles translated into the local Dari language, as well as Christian films about the coming of Jesus, also translated into Dari.
      A spokesman for the group said that the Bibles and other Christian literature were for the personal use of the workers — an explanation Taliban officials rejected.
PHOTO CAPTION:
Western diplomats from the U.S. David Donahue(R), Australia's Alistair Adams(C), and Germany's Helmut Landes wait at Kabul airport after their arrival at the Afghan capital on August 14, 2001. The diplomats' initial efforts to see eight foreign aid workers detained for promoting Christianity were rebuffed by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban. (Sayed Salahuddin/Reuters)
- Aug 14 2:17 PM ET