PAKISTAN has jailed six Germans, including a four-year-old girl, on suspicion of trying to join an extremist group, after arresting them on the Iranian border in May, according to the weekly Der Spiegel.
They reportedly include the brother-in-law of Munir Shuka, spokesman for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU), a militant group with ties to al-Qaeda that is often cited as a top security concern by governments in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
Also held are a German converted to Islam and his wife of Eritrean origin along with their four-year-old daughter, according to Der Spiegel in a report to appear on Monday.
The six were said to have claimed to be Turkish and to have lost their papers, and it was not until August, when Pakistani intelligence took over the case, that their identity was revealed.
Since then the German authorities have been trying to secure the release of the woman and the child, Der Spiegel said, adding that all six were now expected to be expelled to Germany. |