Taliban announce death of Australian ex-hostage who returned to Afghanistan

Afghanistan's Taliban authorities on Wednesday announced the death of Australian Jibra'il Omar, who had returned to the country after having being kidnapped and held hostage by the group for more than three years.

Omar, originally named Timothy Weeks before he converted to Islam, was taken hostage in 2016 alongside an American academic as they left the American University in Kabul, where they both worked.

Both men were released in 2019 to the custody of US forces in southern Afghanistan in exchange for three high-ranking members of the Haqqani Network armed group, a Taliban ally.

"Unfortunately, Australian lecturer Timothy Weeks currently named Jibra'il Omar has passed away of cancer today. He had been suffering from the concern for a long time," the Afghan interior ministry said in a statement.

Omar had converted to Islam following his release and returned to Kabul in the summer of 2022, a year after the Taliban returned to power, the Australian broadcaster ABC reported.

He said at the time that the trip was to "celebrate" the Taliban's victory, ABC reported.

"Jibra'il Omar worked as an English teacher in Kabul. He was very fond of Afghanistan and the Islamic Emirate, and based on that he considered it best to live in Kabul," the interior ministry statement said.

"He traveled to different provinces of Afghanistan and increased his knowledge about Islam," it continued, extending condolences to the Australian's family and friends.

Anas Haqqani, who was released in the same exchange as Weeks in 2019 and is now a senior Taliban official, posted a photo of the two of them on X, saluting Omar.

"He stayed with us, dressed in Afghan attire, and walked the streets of this land, for the bond of faith and belief holds deeper meaning than any other connection," Haqqani said.

"Though Timothy Weeks and I came into this world in different times and distant places, fate brought us together at a crossroads where my death became his, my life intertwined with his, and his freedom became mine."