Oct. 14 (UPI) -- A Canadian man said an insurgent group raped his American wife and authorized the killing of their infant child while they were held captive in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
After Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman arrived in Canada Friday, Boyle said the Taliban-affiliated Haqqani network authorized the murder of his infant daughter as retaliation for his repeated refusal to accept an undisclosed offer and that guards also raped Coleman.
"The stupidity and the evil of the Haqqani Network's kidnapping of a pilgrim, and his heavily pregnant wife, engaged in helping ordinary villagers in Taliban-controlled regions of Afghanistan, was eclipsed only by the stupidity and evil of authorizing the murder of my infant daughter," he said.
Boyle, Coleman and their three children, two sons and a daughter, were freed from five years of captivity during a military operation on Thursday after they were abducted in Afghanistan in 2012.
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Coleman was pregnant with the couple's first child when they were taken hostage and all of their children were born in captivity.
Boyle said his goal upon arriving in Canada is to create "a secure sanctuary for our three surviving children to call a home ... and try to regain some portion of the childhood that they have lost."
"I certainly do not intend to allow a brutal and sacrilegious gang of criminal miscreants to dictate the future direction of my family, nor to weaken my family's commitment to do the right thing, no matter the cost," he said.
Boyle, who was previously married to the sister of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, said he didn't refuse to board an American military plane to avoid arrest, but rather his family had been delayed due to a medical emergency involving one of their children and they received offers for transport from multiple governments.
"I assure you, I have never refused to board any mode of transportation that would bring me closer to home, closer to Canada and back with my family," he said.
