Rahmatullah Hanefi is a citizen of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

. Rahmatullah worked for an Italian charity named "

Emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

", where he was the national staff manager of a hospital the charity ran.

Rescue of Gabriele Torsello

Rahmatullah successfully negotiated the release of

Gabriele Torsello Gabriele Torsello (also known as "Kash"; born 12 August 1970) is an Italian freelance journalist and photojournalist based in London who was abducted in Helmand Province, Afghanistan on 12 October 2006. Kosovar businessman Behgjet Pacolli played a ...

, an Italian taken hostage in October 2006. ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' reports that Rahmatullah carried a $2 million ransom to secure Torsello's release.

Rescue of Daniele Mastrogiacomo

Daniele Mastrogiacomo, an Italian journalist, was taken hostage by the Taliban, on March 5, 2007. Rahmatullah was called upon to negotiate his release.

Captured on suspicions of collusion with the Taliban

After Mastrogiacomo's release, Rahmatullah was taken into custody by Afghan authorities, with a spokesman for the Afghan intelligence service claiming that Rahmatullah had played a part in the capture of Mastrogiacomo by the Taliban.

Gino Strada Gino Strada (21 April 1948 – 13 August 2021) was an Italian war surgeon, human rights activist, peace activist, and founder of Emergency, a recognized international non-governmental organization. Early life and education Gino Strada was b ...

, the founder of Emergency, spoke out on Rahmatullah's behalf:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanefi, Rahmatullah Afghan activists Living people Year of birth missing (living people)