A pregnant New Zealand journalist stranded in Afghanistan for months has found the Taliban more helpful than her own Government, which has failed to let her back in. MailOnline has the story.
Charlotte Bellis, a broadcast journalist, said she has repeatedly tried to return to New Zealand since she learned she was pregnant in September.
She has submitted 59 documents to New Zealand officials in Afghanistan in an attempt to secure an emergency return home, but her bid was turned down and led her to turn to the Taliban, one of the world’s most oppressive regimes, for sympathy.
It’s a particularly cruel twist of fate for the woman who was revered worldwide for her fearless questioning of the jihadist group’s previous record on women’s rights.
To add insult to injury, Ms Bellis has warned that pregnancy can be a death sentence in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan because of the poor state of maternity care and lack of surgical capabilities.
Speaking to 1News about her situation, Ms Bellis asked: “To the NZ Government, I ask what do you want me to do? I have done nothing wrong I got pregnant and I am a New Zealander.
“At what point did we get so bogged down in these rules we’ve come up with that we can’t see that she’s a Kiwi in need of help and she needs to come home?”
Although the spread of COVID-19 has been limited in New Zealand and just 52 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic, the nation still requires citizens to spend 10 days in isolation hotels run by the military.
The ‘zero Covid’ policy has repeatedly come under fire and the strict self-isolation restrictions have now caused a backlog of thousands of people desperate to return home.
Ms Bellis has become one of the most high-profile Kiwis to fall victim to New Zealand’s extreme border controls, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Government face further embarrassment over their own policies.
Writing in the New Zealand Herald on Saturday, Ms Bellis said it was “brutally ironic” that while she had once questioned the Taliban about their treatment of women, she was now asking the same questions of her own Government.
“When the Taliban offers you – a pregnant, unmarried woman – safe haven, you know your situation is messed up,” she wrote. …
Last year, Bellis was working for Al Jazeera covering the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan when she gained international attention by questioning Taliban leaders about their treatment of women and girls.
In her column on Saturday, she said she returned to Qatar in September and discovered she was expecting a baby with her partner, freelance photographer Jim Huylebroek, a contributor to the New York Times.
She described the pregnancy as a “miracle” after earlier being told by doctors she could not have children. She is due to give birth to a girl in May.
Extramarital sex is illegal in Qatar and Ms Bellis said she realised she needed to leave. She repeatedly tried to get back to New Zealand in a lottery-style system for returning citizens but without success.
She said she resigned from Al Jazeera in November and the couple moved to Mr Huylebroek’s native Belgium, but she could not stay long because she was not a resident. She said the only other place the couple had visas to live was Afghanistan.
Ms Bellis said she spoke with senior Taliban contacts who told her she would be fine if she returned to Afghanistan.
“Just tell people you’re married and if it escalates, call us. Don’t worry,” she said they told her.
She said she sent 59 documents to New Zealand authorities in Afghanistan but they rejected her application for an emergency return.
Meanwhile, the toothy tyrant is ramping up the restrictions in a crazed attempt to maintain Zero Covid in the face of Omicron.
Ardern announced a swathe of new measures under the country’s Covid Red Alert system, meaning a return to universal mask-wearing and stricter quarantine requirements for New Zealanders.
The PM rolled out the restrictions after just nine cases of the Omicron variant were detected in a single family that flew to Auckland for a wedding earlier this month.
Under limits incurred by New Zealand’s My Vaccine Pass, those who are unvaccinated will be unable to eat at indoor restaurants or visit gyms or hairdressers.
Any Kiwis working in health and disability, education, fire and emergency, police, defence, and corrections must be able to show proof of having vaccines.
From February 3rd, the wearing of bandanas, scarves or t-shirts pulled over the nose in public places such as gyms and cafes will be banned.
And under new Covid curbs enforced by Ardern, all residents must wear face masks in public areas such as shops and there are limits on gatherings to a maximum of 100 people from Monday after a cluster of Omicron cases were detected in the country.
The changes mean Ardern was forced to postpone her own wedding.
Anyone testing positive must now isolate for 14 instead of ten days – and household contacts have to isolate for an additional ten days on top, leaving them to stay indoors for 24 days.
Worth reading in full.
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Don’t censor him, let him have his say. I’d rather know what he really thinks than force it to keep it to himself. Especially given he is in public office, let’s definitely know what he thinks..
No Stewart. I certainly agree that we should know what he tweets.
But no evidence he is even capable of thinking.
That’s great. It is how he FEELS that is important.
Bless his little cotton socks!
Lib Dem = Communist.
Stop ULEZ stop 15 Minute Cities
Leaflet
Obviously a legitimate response to this despicable creature would be to lock him in a room and keep him on a bread and water diet for a year or two but I am not so hateful and anyway it would only remove one scabby problem.
The Lib Dims as an organisation clearly have some internal reviews to undertake but these people are so far up their own arses and so disconnected from reality that they are beyond redemption.
Nazi connotations are inevitable when such vile statements are thrown about but that is not my way. Although I have no faith whatsoever in our corrupted political system it is to be hoped that this POS will get his due reward come election time.
What a shabby disgrace.
I was there and object to the idea I should be gassed for listening to a debate but agree with stewarts comment that he shouldn’t be censored.
Poorly worded but not that hard to grasp – saying cars poison the air and attempts to stop them from introducing low emission zones would lead to people having to breath carbon monoxide, so the members of this petition should understand what that’s like.
The whole thing is a scam but let’s not fall into the trap of overaction offense grifting.
I don’t have access to the full Twitter post so I am going by what’s written here, which may be incomplete and not fully representative. But it’s a stretch. Small amounts of carbon monoxide in the air may be harmful but filling an enclosed space full of people with it will lead to death.
I’m not “offended” by what he said. Offence is taken, not given. What he said is certainly in poor taste and I would not have said it, but I’m more that happy for him to run his mouth and expose himself for what he is. Never silence an idiot.
Come on, Paul. Petrol burns so cleanly it’s amazing, and diesel engines since early 2000s are also extremely clean. Carbon monoxide emitted from ICEs is negligible, especially when rapidly dispersed outdoors. Stop believing the hype. No one is suggesting we should drive our cars everywhere in small, enclosed spaces (where carbon monoxide would probably become a problem, as this LibDimWit knows full well).
As tof says below, never interrupt a fool.
Happy to let his stupid tweet stand, uncensored. Freedom of speech for ALL; otherwise, it’s not freedom of speech, is it?!
You are from the ‘Academy of Topsy-Turvy Morality’. Please carry on and explain to us how Mr Tarling is a victim in all of this and how much he needs our support.
Ok so at what point can people take offence, say when they are being herded into cattle trucks by armed guards, would that be the right time?
It’s indeed not hard to grasp: Reportedly, modified cars were used to kill people by carbon-monoxide poisoning during the third reich. And that’s what liberal democrats who know this story secretly dream of doing with their political opponents.
Isn’t it funny how the left scream about ‘hate’ but seem to provide most of it. Unless Awareness Training involves some rough types giving Mr Tarling a shoeing round the back of the bins, it would be far better to publish this every day to remind him of what happens when you begin to see your opponent as less than human.
Thanks for causing me to dribble coffee down my nice clean, white t-shirt.
If Mr Tarling had offered to fill the room with the same quality of air found alongside most major roads in Edinburgh he might have had some sort of point – though as it wouldn’t do any harm people might not get the point.
There’s a clue in the name of these things: Ultra Low Emissions Zones.
Off-topic – https://www.technocracy.news/the-great-de-banking-global-draconian-and-devastating/
Patrick Wood’s take on the Mercola / Farage de-banking. Orders coming directly from BIS.
https://www.technocracy.news/environmentalists-betray-the-environment-they-claim-to-protect/
Not off-topic at all.
A first rate article from the Black Cat. I don’t read this chap as a rule because the refusal to use capital letters is insulting but this piece has been properly presented.
“There are no nations that got rich without using a lot of energy. That’s HOW you get rich. And early on, it’s a messy process. Find me a country that went from “poor” to “rich” in any generally applicable fashion without going through a period of nasty environmental degradation. (And no, becoming a banking haven or city-state trade emporium does not count as this neither scales to large populations nor are they universally applicable.) It’s just not a thing. Those inept at generating and using power do not fare well. It’s a path to penury and misery. It’s a path to societal failure.”
”Michael…….has agreed to take on the appropriate awareness training.” Awareness of what, the right of citizens to go about their lawful business without being penalised by draconian taxes being imposed without consultation?
As long as the legends that are the Bladerunners are active then there is hope. And everyone should just refuse to pay a penny. This opposition only has power if people unite and stop being mugs.
https://twitter.com/magsophazjon/status/1683613320740323328/photo/1
Seconded.
Sounds like Mr Tarling has the background to make good on his threats. Surely the anti-terrorist police should have taken him into custody and raided his home and place of work taking all electronic devices and and any pipes, ducts, etc.
As an absolute minimum.
A training course does not change the opinions of the LibDem (sic) who made the offensive posting. Yet again we have to ask what would happen if someone not part of the politically approved set were to do that.
I envisage a media scrum and Mr Plod on the door step.
one waits in anticipation of the Dorset authority’s actions. Will they suspend him. Shun him. Disown him. Cancel him.
will his bank account be closed and if not why not.
“Will his bank account be closed and if not why not?”
Presumably, if this gormless, nasty piece of work is not de-banked then by implication his bank(s) share his views.
Disturbing.
Yes well we know from history the kind of people who gas other people and throw their hair and teeth into big bundles were wiped out and purged from the earth. We hunted them down in their last hold ups in Argentina etc. ——-Tyrannical climate dictators will eventually suffer the same fate when people come to know the truth about this phony manufactured climate crisis that would gas us all and chuck our cars and central heating into a huge pile and burn it.