The trial of eight foreign aid workers accused of promoting Christianity in Afghanistan resumed yesterday and their lawyer was set to present their defense after a one-day delay to translate his rebuttal, officials said.
However, Supreme Court Chief Justice Maulawi Noor Mohammad Saqib had yet to appear in the court and it was not clear how the trial would proceed in the capital, Kabul, which has been under attack by US-led forces for seven days.
The Pakistani lawyer for the eight, Atif Ali Khan, had presented his written defense in Arabic.
"It [the trial] will start as soon as he brings the defense either in Pashto or Dari," Saqib said on Saturday.
Taliban sources said the eight foreign aid workers were all well and safe after seven nights of a US bombardment on Afghan cities, with much of the fire concentrated on military and strategic targets around Kabul.
Two Americans, two Australians and four Germans -- all working for German-based Shelter Now International (SNI) -- were arrested in early August on charges of promoting Christianity in the deeply Islamic country.
The charges -- which all eight have denied -- can carry the death penalty, but lawyer Khan has said he was optimistic the judge would show compassion if they were convicted.
The trial is proceeding despite intense air raids on Kabul since Sunday by US-led forces in pursuit of Osama bin Laden, the Saudi-born militant blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.
Saqib has promised the trial will be fair despite the raids, although other Taliban officials have said previously that Kabul would consider releasing them if what they called "US aggression" was stopped.
There has been no word on the fate of 16 Afghan SNI staff arrested at the same time.
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