Trainee helps save Ridley

A trainee solicitor sent to Pakistan to help secure the release of Taliban-held British journalist Yvonne Ridley has spoken of the experience as 'life changing' and described how her legal training stood her in good stead during negotiations with the Taliban.Northern & Shell trainee Salayha Hussain-Din, who speaks fluent Urdu and is from a Pakistani background, was sent to Pakistan to assist the Express Group's editorial director Paul Ashford in negotiating for the release of Sunday Express foreign correspondent Ms Ridley, who was arrested by the Taliban earlier this month on suspicion of being a spy.Ms Hussain-Din travelled to Islamabad with Mr Ashford, where they met the Taliban's deputy ambassador to Pakistan and handed over documents confirming Ms Ridley as a bona fide journalist and UK citizen.

'We had grabbed almost everything we could from the office in London, and one of my jobs was to order everything, make copies and translate some documents into Urdu,' she said.

'My legal training was useful for this, and also in taking detailed minutes of all the meetings that we had with different people and bodies.'During the meeting with the Taliban official, Ms Hussain-Din - who had to cover herself fully and was told not to make eye-contact or shake hands with the official - said she was surprised at the respect with which she was treated.

'He was very amicable to us and listened carefully to everything I had to say,' she said.Ms Hussain-Din, who returned to England with the released Ms Ridley, said: 'Being out in Pakistan was a very stressful experience, but at the same time a life changing adventure, which made it difficult to go back to day-to-day office work.'Victoria MacCallum