Working as a reporter for the Sunday Express in September 2001, Ridley was smuggled from Pakistan across the Afghan border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

If you were being interrogated by the Taleban as a suspected US spy, it might be hard to imagine a happy ending.<\/p>\n

But for journalist Yvonne Ridley, the ordeal in Afghanistan led her to convert to a religion she says is \u201cthe biggest and best family in the world\u201d.<\/p>\n

The formerly hard-drinking Sunday school teacher became a Muslim after reading the Qur\u2019an on her release.<\/p>\n

She now describes radical cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri as \u201cquite sweet really\u201d and says the Taleban have suffered an unfair press.<\/p>\n

Working as a reporter for the Sunday Express in September 2001, Ridley was smuggled from Pakistan across the Afghan border.<\/p>\n

But her cover was blown when she fell off her donkey in front of a Taleban soldier near Jalalabad, revealing a banned camera underneath her robes.<\/p>\n

Her first thought as the furious young man came running towards her?<\/p>\n

\u201cWow – you\u2019re gorgeous,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had those amazing green eyes that are peculiar to that region of Afghanistan and a beard with a life of its own.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut fear quickly took over.\u00a0 I did see him again on my way to Pakistan after my release and he waved at me from his car.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ridley was interrogated for 10 days without being allowed a phone call and missed her daughter Daisy\u2019s ninth birthday.<\/p>\n

Of the Taleban, Ridley says: \u201cI couldn\u2019t support what they did or believed in, but they were demonised beyond recognition because you can\u2019t drop bombs on nice people.\u201d<\/p>\n

It has been suggested the 46-year-old is a victim of Stockholm Syndrome, in which hostages take the side of the hostage-takers.<\/p>\n

But she says: \u201cI was horrible to my captors.\u00a0 I spat at them and was rude and refused to eat.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t until I was freed that I became interested in Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Flappy knickers\u2019<\/p>\n

Indeed, the Taleban deputy foreign minister was called in when Ridley refused to take her underwear down from the prison washing line, which was in view of soldier\u2019s quarters.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Look, if they see those things they will have impure thoughts\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfghanistan was about to be bombed by the richest country in the world and all they were concerned about was my big, flappy, black knickers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI realised the US doesn\u2019t have to bomb the Taleban – just fly in a regiment of women waving their underwear and they will all run off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once she was back in the UK, Ridley turned to the Qur\u2019an as part of her attempt to understand her experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was absolutely blown away by what I was reading – not one dot or squiggle had been changed in 1,400 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have joined what I consider to be the biggest and best family in the world.\u00a0 When we stick together we are absolutely invincible.\u201d<\/p>\n

What do her Church of England parents in County Durham make of her new family?<\/p>\n

\u201cInitially the reaction of my family and friends was one of horror, but now they can all see how much happier, healthier and fulfilled I am.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd my mother is delighted I\u2019ve stopped drinking.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does Ridley feel about the place of women in Islam?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are oppressed women in Muslim countries, but I can take you up the side streets of Tyneside and show you, oppressed women, there.<\/p>\n

\u201cOppression is cultural, it is not Islamic.\u00a0 The Qur\u2019an makes it crystal clear that women are equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

And her new Muslim dress is empowering, she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow liberating is it to be judged for your mind and not the size of your bust or length of your legs.\u201d<\/p>\n

A single mother who has been married three times, she says Islam has freed her from worry over her love life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI no longer sit and wait by the phone for a man to ring and I haven\u2019t been stood up for months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no man stress.\u00a0 For the first time since my teens, I don\u2019t have that pressure to have a boyfriend or husband.\u201d<\/p>\n

But there has been a phone call from at least one male admirer – north London preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Sister Yvonne, welcome to Islam, congratulations\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI explained I hadn\u2019t yet taken my final vows and he said, \u2018Don\u2019t be pressured or pushed, the whole community is there for you if you need any help, just call one of the sisters.\u2019<\/p>\n