A SENIOR British diplomat yesterday met a Taliban official to press for the release of arrested British journalist Yvonne Ridley, the Foreign Office confirmed last night.
The British High Commissioner to Pakistan, Hilary Synnott, met Taliban representative Mullah Abdul Salam Zaaeef in the Pakistan capital Islamabad.
Ms Ridley - a journalist once with The Northern Echo but now with the Sunday Expresss - and two guides were detained last Friday near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, about nine miles from the Pakistan border.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The High Commissioner expressed our concern of Yvonne's arrest. He has asked the Taliban for her early release."
The move comes as a mediator and independent interpreter prepare to fly to Pakistan today help with talks.
Ms Ridley's mother, Joyce Ridley, 74, of West Pelton, County Durham, said last night she had tried to reassure granddaughter Daisy, nine today, that her mother would be home soon.
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