British Islamist Yvonne Ridley, a journalist kidnapped by the Taliban in 2001, is back in Afghanistan, praising the new violent Taliban regime, and demanding that the “US must unfreeze Afghanistan’s money.”
A former reporter with the Sunday Express, Ridley was held hostage for just 11 days in late 2001. Ridley reportedly “reverted” to Islam in 2003, two years later. Given her embrace of violent Islamist ideas, some critics have suggested she is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.
Indeed, Ridley has long worked with jihadist sympathizers following her conversion. In 2008, she joined with former Guantanamo Bay inmate Moazzam Begg and Anwar Al-Awlaki, who shortly afterwards became the head of Al Qaeda in the Gulf, until his death in a U.S. drone strike.
Ridley has been vocal in her support for Hamas over the years, calling for Zionists to be “hunted down” and: “If I could use my Palestinian citizenship, it would be to vote Ismail Haniyeh and Hamas back in again in Gaza. Victory to intifada 3! Victory to Hamas!“
Despite her Islamist views, she is not particularly ideologically consistent – working for both the Iranian regime and its Press TV channel some days, and aligning herself with Sunni jihadists on others.
In August 2021, following the Taliban’s lightening takeover of Afghanistan, Ridley wrote for Middle East Monitor:
