Still no news from Italian medics in Afghanistan

[IndianaGreen]

Still no news from Italian medics in Afghanistan

Friday 16 April 2010
by Tom Mellen

Afghan officials are refusing to release information about the fate of three Italian medics who were detained last week after they revealed the high civilian toll of Nato offensives in Helmand province.

On Thursday Italian charity Emergency director Rossella Miccio told a news conference in Kabul that requests for news on the whereabouts of Matteo Dell'Aira, Marco Garatti and Matteo Pagani and for details of the charges against them have fallen on deaf ears.

The three have not been heard from since Afghan police whisked them away on April 10 after weapons were allegedly found in a raid by Afghan police and British troops on the group's hospital in Lashkar Gah.

Emergency said that the raid had been conducted "without any legal authority" as it had not been authorised by a court.

"None of the Afghan authorities or the representatives of the international military coalition has had any contact with Emergency to explain the reasons for this event," the Milan-based non-government organisation said in a statement.

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/content/view/full/89269