[Pak Daily Times] The Taliban released a video on Sunday of a Canadian man captured this year in a volatile province of central Afghanistan and said he would be put on trial for spying, unless Canada's government accepted unspecified demands for his release. The man was jugged in Ghazni city in February by hard boyz who accused him of collecting secret information, although Canada's foreign affairs department said the 26-year-old had travelled to Afghanistan as a tourist.
Canadian authorities have said they would prefer that the man not be identified while negotiations to secure his release go on. "The evidence and documents found in his possession had shown that he entered Afghanistan for spying purposes and was an active agent, gathering intelligence on the Taliban," said Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban front man said. "The Islamic Emirate once again calls on the Canadian government to take immediate action to solve this issue or the hostage could face a court," Mujahid said in a statement. The Taliban released a video of the man, who appeared clean-shaven, in which he answered questions from an unseen interrogator. The man said he had travelled to Afghanistan because he had a strong interest in its history.