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Final Words from Press Conference of Two Freed American Aid Workers

Aired November 16, 2001 - 11:39   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Again as promised, we are going to bring you the final words from the press conference that two American aid workers held with reporters in Islamabad, Pakistan. Again, we have mentioned throughout the morning this happened the wee hours of morning here in the U.S., and many of us did not get a chance to hear their story firsthand, the final segment now from Pakistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

QUESTION: Did you notice a difference in their character towards Americans have or towards you over general policy?

HEATHER MERCER, FREED AMERICAN AID WORKER: I can say while we were in prison, the Taliban weren't saying this, but the prisoners themselves said that they would pray five times a day that America would come in and rescue them, so the people themselves want help, they wanted America to come in. They wanted to be their nation to be rescued from the regime that was over them. And just -- there was a dramatic chance in the people of the city of Ghazni the day we were released. The streets were filled with people rejoicing. Women had taken off their burkhas. We know it's a story that is happening all around Afghanistan now. Men are shaving their beards, music is being played from the streets, and women are no longer wearing their head coverings. So really has been a drastic change between Afghanistan three months ago and Afghanistan today.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) ... the Taliban, imprisoned by them. How did you feel about personally now?

MERCER: You know, in all this time, I don't have any animosity towards the Taliban at all, even the from the time that we were captured in interrogation, I didn't have a reason to be angry with them; I felt like they were they were doing what they thought was their job, and as much as they could, they treated us with the respect. So really, I don't have any anger against the Taliban for what's happened. There were days that were extremely hard, but we have come out.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) ... prison, and if so, when was your own moment of taking it off?

DAYNA CURRY, FREED AMERICAN AID WORKER: No, we never wore burkhas, but we did purchase them at one time, just because we thought when we would go out, we might need to wear them if went by road, just to be inconspicuous, but the jailer kind of got frightened and took burkas back from us because he thought we would go on some daring escape. So we never saw the burkas again after that. But we never wore them other than that; we got them for our escape, but then we never wore them.

QUESTION: Did you find political prisoners, or did you hear of other prisoners being beaten or tortured while you were in jail?

MERCER: That was probably one of the hardest things about our whole time, seeing the discrepancy between the way we were treated and way the Afghans themselves were treated. We saw some pretty atrocious things happening to the prisoners. When they were being beaten until they bled. Women were being arrested because they ran away from husband who beat them. The story of Afghan women and the plight of Afghan women, I hope now, through our own experience, can come more before the attention of the world, and that really there can be a change for the women especially, but all the people of Afghanistan. Prisoners in Afghanistan are not treated very well.

We are going to be concluding here now, but I just want again to say thank you to everyone who has hung in there with us, who hasn't given up on us who has given their heart and soul for the last 3 1/2 months to work towards our release, to pray for us. And I think even if we had a whole lifetime to say thank you, we couldn't do it appropriately, we couldn't do it adequately.

And in all of this, we hope, as we have said already, that a new day will come for Afghanistan, the judgment for the nation will be over, and day of favor will come for them. And we pray that the world will continue to keep their eye on Afghanistan, that the world will continue to fight for the cause of the Afghan people, and that really we will see a new and truly liberated country.

So we thank you for your time. We thank you for all your help.

Again, we just want to thank God for getting us out of this and for all the people that prayed. So thank you.

HEMMER: What a story they have to tell now. Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, ages 30 for Curry, 24 for Heather Mercer -- now safe and healthy, in Islamabad, Pakistan, those comments happening hours ago, while many of us were sleeping here in the United States.

But you heard Heather Mercer say that she hopes her experience will help bring the attention of world to what's happening in Afghanistan, saying they have no animosity toward the Taliban, despite seeing, firsthand, women being beaten until they bled in jail or on streets of Afghanistan.

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