Freed Taliban Canadian man reveals 'his wife was raped'

Toronto [Canada], Oct 14 (ANI): The Canadian man, who was freed from the traps of the Haqqani network earlier this week, has shared his plight, saying the members of the terror group in Afghanistan had raped his wife and killed his daughter during their captivity.

"The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani network's kidnapping of a pilgrim and his heavily pregnant wife engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter, Martyr Boyle," CNN quoted Joshua Boyle as saying upon his arrival at Toronto's Pearson Airport Friday night.

Joshua Boyle, his American wife, Caitlan Coleman and their three children were freed on Thursday in a joint operation carried out by Pakistani forces based on intelligence from US authorities.

The couple was held for five years by the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network in Afghanistan after their kidnapping in 2012. Their three children were born during their time in captivity.

He said his captors' actions were a retaliation for his "repeated refusal to accept an offer" from them.

He said Coleman was raped by a guard, who was assisted by his superiors and asked the Afghan authorities to bring them to justice.

"I certainly do not intend to allow a brutal and sacrilegious gang of criminal miscreants to dictate the future direction of my family, nor to weaken my family's commitment to do the right thing, no matter the cost," he said.

Boyle said he had been in Afghanistan "helping the most neglected minority group in the world, those ordinary villagers that live deep inside Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, where no NGO, no aid worker and no government has ever successfully been able to bring the necessary help".

"I assure you, I have never refused to board any mode of transportation that would bring me closer to home, closer to Canada and back with my family," he said.

Boyle had refused to board an American military plane on Thursday over concerns that he could face arrest because he was previously married to the sister of Omar Kadhr, a Canadian imprisoned for 10 years at the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after fighting US troops in Afghanistan.

However, US Department of Justice spokesman Wyn Hornbuckle said that he did not face arrest as "Coleman and Boyle are not charged with any federal crime and, as such, we do not seek their arrest."(ANI)