Vienna says its nationwide has arrived in Doha after mediation by the Qatari authorities helped safe his launch.
The Taliban has launched Herbert Fritz, an 84-year-old Austrian far-right nationalist, who was arrested in Afghanistan final Might.
The Austrian authorities mentioned in a press release on Sunday that Fritz arrived in Doha, Qatar earlier within the day after mediation by the Qatari authorities helped to safe his launch.
Fritz was arrested final yr after defying Austria’s long-standing warning in opposition to journey to Afghanistan, which in 2021 returned to the rule of the Taliban.
“I feel it was dangerous luck however I need to go to once more,” he instructed reporters on arrival in Doha, when requested about his ordeal.
“There have been some good folks however there have been some silly folks additionally, I’m sorry,” Fritz added, describing his captors.
After his arrest, Austria’s Der Customary newspaper mentioned Fritz had gone to Afghanistan and reported positively on life there. He revealed an article titled “Holidays with the Taliban” through a far-right media outlet.
This helped gas anti-immigration arguments that Afghanistan was a secure nation to which refugees might return, the newspaper mentioned.
The Taliban arrested him on suspicion of spying, and Austrian neo-Nazis made his case public through Telegram channels, Der Customary mentioned.
Austria’s Ministry of International Affairs mentioned it had been working to safe Fritz’s launch since Might, and thanked Qatar and the European Union illustration in Kabul for aiding its efforts to result in his return to Austria.
A spokesperson for the Austrian ministry instructed the Related Press information company that Fritz had been held in a jail in Kabul.
Writing on X, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer thanked the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and his staff for his or her “sturdy assist in releasing one in every of our residents from jail in Afghanistan”.
“It’s only because of our trusted collaboration that this Austrian citizen will have the ability to return dwelling to his daughter and grandchildren,” Nehammer mentioned.
Fritz was a founding member of the nation’s Nationwide Democratic Celebration (NDP), an excessive proper group banned in 1988, based on Der Customary and different media retailers.
Austria’s far-right Freedom Celebration, which has been main in opinion polls forward of parliamentary elections due later this yr, had pressed for Fritz’s launch. The celebration has mentioned he was researching a e-book in Afghanistan.
Qatar’s Ministry of International Affairs expressed gratitude on X for the “caretaker authorities in Afghanistan” for releasing the Austrian.
“The State of Qatar has confirmed, regionally and globally, that it’s a trusted worldwide companion in varied necessary points,” the ministry mentioned. “It spares no effort in harnessing its vitality and skill within the areas of mediation, preventive diplomacy, and settling disputes via peaceable means.”