'Taliban prison is the nearest thing to hell'

Family plea for couple to be released

- Stephen Beech

A BRITISH pensioner held by the Taliban alongside rapists and murderers inside Afghanistan's most notorious jail has described it as "the nearest thing to hell".

Peter Reynolds, 79, and his wife of 54 years, Barbie, 75, were detained in February while returning from Kabul to their home in Bamyan province.

They were held alongside Faye Hall, an American friend who has since been freed, and a translator from the couple's Rebuild training business.

Speaking from the notorious Pul-e-Charkhi jail in Kabul, Mr Reynolds said: "The prison guards shout all the time and beat people.

"We just witnessed a guy being beaten just now by one of the war-dens outside in the exercise yard.

Appalled