British journalist Ms Yvonne Ridley is to be tried for spying after being arrested in Afghanistan by the Taliban, according to Pakistani press reports.
Urdu newspaper Inquilaband Kabul radio quote highly placed sources in the administration who said that Ms Ridley is being held prisoner in a military camp near the Afghan frontier town of Jalalabad.
The Sunday Expressreporter, who was arrested along with two Afghan guides, was allegedly not carrying a passport or a Taliban permit. Spying under the Taliban dispensation carries the death penalty.
The newspaper quoted an official as saying that an enquiry has been ordered and will take time to complete.
He continued: "We have rules to deal with intruders and spies. If she had no ulterior motive, why would she have entered Afghanistan illegally and that too in a disguise?
"We have left it our courts to decide if she is innocent."
Foreign media were ordered to leave Afghanistan after the US stepped up its demand for the extradition of Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden in connection with the September 11 terror attacks.
PA