Caitlan Coleman, who was held captive by Haqqani terrorists along with her husband, has broken her media silence and confirmed that her captors terminated her pregnancy.
In an interview with the Toronto Star on Monday, U.S. citizen Coleman says the abortion was a punishment from her kidnappers because her Canadian husband Joshua Boyle would not join the Haqqani network, Taliban-affiliated terrorists.
“They were very angry because Joshua had been asked to join them, to work for them, and he said no,” she said. “They killed her by dosing the food. They put massive doses of estrogen in the food.”
Coleman says they named the baby “Martyr” while her tormentors bragged about killing the unborn child.
Coleman also underlined the confusion surrounding the couple’s whereabouts during their five years of captivity.
“Right now everybody’s shunting blame and making claims. Pakistan says, no they were never in Pakistan, until the end. The U.S. says, no they were always in Pakistan; it was Pakistan’s responsibility. But neither of those are true,” Coleman said in the Star interview, contradicting a recent statement by CIA Director Mike Pompeo, who said the pair were held exclusively in Pakistan.
Although Coleman is only breaking her media silence this week, Boyle has been the subject of numerous interviews over the past two weeks and he revealed details about the forced abortion and how the kidnappers raped his wife upon arrival in Canada.
Coleman was pregnant three more times during the couple’s confinement and she knows that many are questioning why the couple decided to have children in captivity.
“It was a decision we made. We did think about it and talk about it and it’s difficult to explain all the reasons, but, for me, a large part was the fact that it has always been important to me to have a large family,” she told the Star. “This took our life away from us — this captivity with no end in sight.”