The Sun newspaper has recently published an interview with Kevin Cornwell, a British aid worker and former Taliban prisoner, in which he recounts 272 days of imprisonment in Taliban custody. Cornwell revealed that the Taliban stole $12,000 from his safe and confiscated his electronic equipment. He also described being held in solitary confinement, subjected to torture, threatened with execution, and suspended naked from the ceiling during his time in captivity. He stated that the Taliban exploited his case for political leverage and to extract concessions, and that throughout his detention, he was transferred between different cells, held alongside dangerous prisoners, kept in severe health conditions, and denied adequate access to medical treatment.
Cornwell, a British aid worker and former British Army doctor who was working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kabul, was arrested by Taliban intelligence in January 2023. He said the Taliban sought to use his case throughout his detention to extract money, arrange prisoner exchanges, and pressure the British government into negotiations.
Cornwell was released on October 9, 2023, along with several other British nationals. He stated that his release, along with that of several other prisoners, came after 120 million pounds were paid to the Taliban. He added that upon his departure, the Taliban warned him never to return to Afghanistan, as his name had been placed on the group’s blacklist.
The Arrest
Cornwell said that Taliban intelligence forces entered his room at a hotel where he was staying in Kabul and questioned him about a pistol he kept in his safe. He emphasized that he held a Taliban-issued permit to keep the weapon, but Taliban fighters refused to accept this. He added that the Taliban first took $12,000 from his safe, then pulled a black bag over his head and took him away.
The British aid worker said that during his first interrogation, the Taliban forced him to kneel with his hands tied behind his back. He stated that any answer that displeased the interrogators was met with a rifle butt to the back of his head.
Cornwell stated in the interview that the Taliban showed him several Kalashnikov rifles, wire, a radio, and other items he did not recognize, and claimed he had intended to use them to carry out a terrorist attack. According to him, Taliban interrogators told him, “You are a terrorist. You have come to harm the Taliban on behalf of the British government.”
Beatings and Solitary Confinement
The former prisoner emphasized that after rejecting the charges against him, he was severely beaten by the Taliban. He said Taliban fighters blindfolded him and held him in an underground cage in solitary confinement for 11 days. He stated that apart from one daily trip to the toilet, his only contact with others was when guards entered his cell to whip, beat, or threaten him with a knife.
Cornwell said the Taliban tried to force him to comply with their demands. According to him, the next phase of his imprisonment began when he was placed in a cell with five fighters. He said: “These were very brutal individuals who spent three full months trying to break me physically and psychologically and to radicalize me.”
The British aid worker said the prisoners would sometimes attack him without warning. He said that whenever he managed to defend himself, Taliban guards would beat him with a stick. Cornwell said these individuals would tell him in broken English: “The Christian world no longer exists,” and “Muslims have multiplied greatly in the world, all Christians will die.” He said that when they were not praying, they would take turns reading the Quran in front of him and trying to convert him to Islam.
Cornwell said that among the prisoners held with him were individuals who had committed murder, rape, and the kidnapping of children for organ trafficking. He said they tried to convert him to Islam because they believed doing so would open the gates of paradise for them. He added that the Taliban also questioned him during interrogations about his military background. He had served in the military for nearly 25 years, 12 of which were in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).
The aid worker stated that Taliban guards, under threat of weapons, demanded he read notes that described him as a terrorist and British spy, and contained statements condemning the governments of Britain and the United States.
Cornwell noted in the interview that he would only agree to read the notes when they were written in incorrect English. He would deliberately read them with the same mistakes and wrong pronunciation to signal that the content was not credible. He said one note was written in broken English as: “I, Kevin, British intelligence agent.” Another stated that he had worked for the British government in Afghanistan. Cornwell says he responded by insisting that he had been working in Kabul for the United Nations as a project manager and doctor. He said this would result in him being beaten again.
Torture for Refusing to Confess to Espionage
Cornwell noted in the interview that Taliban guards would send videos of him reading in English to their commanders. He said that when the Taliban noticed the mistakes, they would respond with anger, saying: “Why don’t you speak like an Englishman?” and “This is not like television.” He said one Taliban commander told him: “You are not making this easy.” He replied: “I am not here to make this easy.” According to Cornwell, the Taliban subjected him to physical pressure on several occasions but were unable to break him psychologically. He stressed that this infuriated the Taliban and caused the torture to continue.
The British aid worker added that in the final interrogation, the Taliban threatened to charge him with espionage. He said this charge, if brought by the Taliban, could have led to a public execution order against him.
Cornwell said that during his imprisonment, he was transferred between several cells, a period during which his health deteriorated, and he was hospitalised twice for blood infections. He said he had kidney stones before his arrest, and his condition worsened due to a lack of medication. He added that the beatings had also caused damage to his organs.
Cornwell said the first time he was taken to a hospital, it was under Taliban control and was “the worst” medical environment he had ever seen. He said one of his kidneys required surgery due to multiple stones. He emphasised that he refused the offer of general anaesthesia and requested spinal anaesthesia instead, because if he was going to die, he wanted to be conscious in his final moments.
Tying Stones to the Genitals of Other Prisoners
Cornwell stated in the interview that the Taliban also subjected non-foreign prisoners to severe torture and brutal treatment. He said he witnessed a prisoner whose genitals had been tied with stones and whose body had been subjected to electric shocks. He said that after the prisoner was returned to the cell, guards said he had gone mad. Cornwell emphasised that the Taliban had tortured that prisoner severely and that his body was covered in burns and wounds. He said some prisoners were tortured to the brink of death. According to Cornwell, they were hanged until the final moments of consciousness, then brought down, and the process was repeated.
The former prisoner added that at certain moments, he lost hope and thought the only way he would leave prison would be in a wooden coffin. He also said that over 272 days in prison, he was only able to speak to his wife six times, and that during these calls, he used coded messages he had previously arranged with her during his military service.
Cornwell said that in the early hours of October 9, 2023, his hands were bound, a bag was placed over his head, and he was transported with several other British nationals by military vehicle to the airport. He said that after his release, he required two kidney surgeries. He said his kidneys, due to the damage sustained and the lack of medication, were functioning at only 25 percent and 75 percent capacity, respectively. He said that initially, he was sensitive to loud environments and bright light, and still prefers to sit in darkness as it feels calmer to him.
Cornwell, a father of seven and grandfather of 18, said that if the Taliban were no longer in power in Afghanistan, he would be willing to return the very next day to do humanitarian work. He said: “I love this country, and its people are extraordinary, kind, and compassionate. The oppressors there have created serious hardships for their own people, and that is deeply painful and disheartening.”
The Hasht-e Subh Daily has previously documented through multiple investigative reports that suspension by the feet, placing plastic bags over prisoners’ heads and faces, urinating on prisoners’ faces, binding hands behind the back, being kept in damp rooms, beatings with belts, placing a Kalashnikov barrel against the ear, and death threats are among the most prominent forms of torture that prisoners have experienced in Taliban jails. Obscene insults, humiliation, being addressed as a servant and American spy, and threats to harm prisoners’ family members are among the other forms of abuse that prisoners have reported experiencing.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
۲۷۲ روز در جهنم طالبان؛ آویزانکردن برهنه از سقف تا شکنجههای هولناک
