The Pakistani defence lawyer for eight foreign aid workers accused of preaching Christianity in Afghanistan visited the detainees and reported they were ready for the resumption of their trial, scheduled later today.
Mr Atif Ali Khan and his deputy met the detained workers - two Americans, two Australians and four Germans - and said each signed a document accepting him as their lawyer.
Mr Khan said he would meet the head of Afghanistan's supreme court later today.
US President George W Bush has demanded that Afghanistan's Taliban rulers free the aid workers detained since August for allegedly trying to convert Afghans to Christianity - a serious offence in the rigorously Muslim country.
The latest reports are that the detainees were being treated humanely.
Khan said he delivered some asthma medicine for Ms Heather Mercer today. She, fellow American Ms Dayna Curry, 29, and the six other detainees work for the Christian relief agency Shelter Now. They insist they were in Afghanistan to help the poor, not convert them.
The penalty, if convicted of proselytising, could be anything from expulsion to a jail term to death.
AP