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France - Middle East

French TV names journalists held by Taliban‎

French public television channel France 3 on Monday released the names of two of its journalists being held hostage by the Taliban militia in Afghanistan following a new threat against their lives.

France 3
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The channel identified the journalists as Herve Ghesquiere and Stephane Taponier at the request of their families.

This comes after a video message was sent by the Taliban to western media on Sunday, which contained a new death threat directed at the men, who have been held for three months.

France 3 ran footage from the video with the faces of the two hostages blurred over.

"The faces of our two colleagues who appear in this video have been blurred over out of respect to their dignity, but their anonymity which has been strictly guarded until now will be lifted at the request of their families," the management of the television station said in a statement.

The Taliban has asked the French government for an exchange of prisoners held by the United States and Afghan authorities in return for the release of the journalists.

The French pair were abducted with their Afghan translator, an editorial fixer and a driver on a road in eastern Afghanistan on 30 December.

The French foreign ministry says it is working discreetly to secure their release.

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