It’s the SNP for me

“I’ve told Jeremy that Labour is as dead as Monty Python’s parrot north of the border

By Dave Bowman

DAVE BOWMAN turns the spotlight on English-born former Respect Party leader - and now proud SNP member - YVONNE RIDLEY, who moved to Scotland five years ago largely because of her desire to help in the fight for Independence.

Journalist, author, broadcaster and campaigner Yvonne is a socialist, feminist and committed trade unionist who was once voted the most recognisable woman in the Islamic world. The interview makes fascinating reading.

DAVE BOWMAN: You first achieved celebrity status, so to speak, when you were arrested and detained by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 while on an undercover reporting mission on behalf of the Sunday Express. That must have been a terrifying and traumatic experience, but it eventually had a positive impact on your life. So can you tell me what happened.

Inevitably the clash of cultures between some scary looking Pashtun men and a Geordie feminist provided an unexpected but rich vein of humour

YVONNE RIDLEY: Hidden beneath the all enveloping blue burka, I sneaked into Afghanistan and had been there for two days working on an undercover assignment for the Sunday Express. I was heading back towards the Pakistan border via a smuggling route since the checkpoint at Torkham, at the foot of the Khyber Pass, was closed.

I was making the final part of the journey on a donkey when it bolted and threw me off right at the feet of a Taliban soldier. He saw my camera but was far more interested in my two guides than me; he didn’t realise I was a Westerner and went for them. This gave me an opportunity to escape and so I joined another crowd of people during the confusion.

However, when I looked back I saw my guides in trouble and realised I couldn’t leave them behind. So I returned to the soldier, removed my burka and hoped that he would forget my guides and arrest me instead. My cunning plan failed and we were all arrested.

It was terrifying and traumatic but there were some wonderful lighter moments during lively exchanges with my captors. Inevitably the clash of cultures between some scary looking Pashtun men and a Geordie feminist provided an unexpected but rich vein of humour.

Falling for the Bush-Blair propaganda that they were part of the ‘most evil, brutal regime in the world’ I was convinced that the outcome for me would be bleak and final so I decided I had absolutely nothing to lose and became the prisoner from hell. I swore, spat and cussed the Taliban during the interrogations and went on hunger strike.

I just wanted the nightmare to end and thought my behaviour might accelerate the process thereby skipping any torture or inflicted pain en route to execution. As it turned out, they treated me with courtesy and respect which was even more baffling.

In the end I gave an undertaking to read the Qur’an and study Islam if they released me and, against all the odds while holding on to other Westerners, that’s exactly what they did. When I crossed the border back into Pakistan I’m not sure who was happiest - them or me.

With Humza Yousaf at a demo and rally in Glasgow supporting refugees cause.

DB: During your early journalistic career working for various national papers you apparently lived the life of an archetypal hard-drinking Fleet Street hack and at one point even compared yourself to Ab Fab’s Patsy Stone! But I believe all that changed after you read the Qur’an and embraced Islam.