KABUL, Afghanistan, May 21 (UPI) -- An Italian relief worker taken hostage in Kabul is alive, but unwell, her alleged captor said during a phone call, the ANSA news agency reported Saturday.
Clementina Contini, kidnapped Monday in the Afghan capital, "is not well and has an infection in one eye," according to a caller who identified himself as Temor Shah.
In a series of at least five ultimatums phoned in to a French news organization and all postponed before the deadline, Contini's kidnapper demanded Afghanistan ban the sale of alcoholic drinks, cancel a TV program considered offensive by Islamic fundamentalists, and improve the condition of the madrassas, or Islamic religious schools.
The Italian news agency said Afghan President Hamid Karzai told reporters Saturday the government was making progress in its efforts to secure Contini's release. "We know who (the hostage-takers) are, and we know why they did it, but I can't say any more at present," Karzai said.
In Rome, Mayor Walter Veltroni scheduled a mass demonstration outside city hall Monday to protest Contini's kidnapping.
