Afghanistan's ruling Taliban on Wednesday charged a French reporter and his two Pakistani colleagues with spying -- a charge immediately dismissed by France as absurd.
Michel Peyrard, 44, a reporter for the French weekly Paris Match, was arrested in Afghanistan on Tuesday while disguised in Muslim women's clothing.
"They have been formally charged with spying," Taliban intelligence chief Mullah Taj Meer was quoted as saying by the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP).
"We had warned all journalists that whosoever entered Afghanistan illegally would be treated as US soldiers."
A French Foreign Ministry official said officials were trying to contact Taliban authorities through neighboring Pakistan.
"It is clear that Michel Peyrard is a well-known journalist. He was working as a reporter," a spokesman said in Paris. "Accusations that he is a spy are absurd."
Mullah Meer said spying equipment had been found on the three and they would be tried in a special court. He did not specify where or when this would take place.
Peyrard was carrying a satellite telephone, tape recorder and "other spying instruments" when he was detained near the eastern city of Jalalabad, the private Pakistan-based AIP said.
The agency said the two Pakistani reporters, Muhammad Irfan from The Statesman and Mukarram Khan from Nawa-i-waqt newspaper, had been warned previously not to bring foreigners illegally into Afghanistan.
The French reporter was well, Meer said. "He is being given food of his choice. He is being examined by a doctor."
Even though Peyrard had apologized, he would still be charged, Meer said.
"We will definitely try him," AIP quoted him as saying.
Fellow journalists in Peshawar said Peyrard had told them he planned to slip into Afghanistan, which the ruling Taliban closed to foreign reporters after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in the US.
The Taliban were already concerned about the entry of French spies, Ambassador to Pakistan Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef told a news conference.
The French Foreign Ministry said it was doing all it could through Pakistan to secure Peyrard's release.
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