The Death of a Fool...

A West Vancouver freelancer, Khadija Abdul Qahaar - formerly Beverly Giesbrecht - and author of the pro-Taliban website "Jihad Unspun" appears to have died in Taliban captivity. I remember when she was first captured, I actually heard her voice on the phone of a person I knew who had worked with her. She had been putting his name as a contact and Canadian intelligence wanted to know if he could assist or something like that. He refused and didn't want to get involved, his relationship with her was a passing one of acquaintance, some brief query regarding one of his documentaries. I remembered feeling how strange it could be that two people on the same phone line could be so many worlds apart. We were sitting in a comfortable editing studio in Shepherd's Bush, London, whilst at that moment she was probably in some hell-hole in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Such a tragic end for somebody who could only be described as a lost soul. You can only swim out so far before it is impossible for anybody to help you.