Freed Canadian hostage demands kidnappers be brought to justice

TORONTO Former Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle has demanded that his kidnappers be brought to justice for the “murder” of his infant daughter and the rape of his wife while they were in captivity.

A tired-looking Boyle read a brief statement to the media late Friday after arriving in Toronto with his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, and their three young children. The family was freed by Pakistani commandos on Wednesday after they and their captors crossed the border from Afghanistan.

Boyle and Coleman had been kidnapped in Afghanistan in October 2012 while on a backpacking trip. Coleman was pregnant at the time and had four children in captivity. The birth of the fourth child had not been publicly known before Boyle appeared before journalists in Toronto.

With hands trembling as he read his statement, Boyle lambasted the “stupidity and the evil” of his kidnappers, who he said were members of the Taliban-linked Haqqani network, for abducting both him and his pregnant wife during a trip to help villagers in Afghanistan’s Taliban-controlled areas.

He said the Haqqani leadership authorized the murder of his infant daughter in retaliation for his refusal to accept an offer from the kidnappers, but did not elaborate on the offer. He also condemned his kidnappers for engaging in the brutal rape of his wife.

“Not as a lone action by one guard, but assisted by the captain of the guard and supervised by the commandant ... of the Haqqani network.” Boyle said.

“God willing, this litany of stupidity will be the epitaph of the Haqqani network.”

Boyle said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan — the name used by the Taliban when they ruled Afghanistan until they were ousted by a U.S.-led coalition in 2001 — should provide his family the justice that they are owed.