Beverley Giesbrecht: 'The Woman Who Joined the Taliban'

"My name is Khadija Abdul Qahaar. And I'm a Muslim who came to Islam as a result of the events of nine-eleven. In my former life, my name was Beverley Giesbrecht."

The woman who had been Beverley Giesbrecht packed up her life in Canada, and ventured beyond Egypt, into the Taliban-held tribal areas of the Pakistan and Afghanistan border. 

Beverley Giesbrecht was making a documentary. That film was never completed, however...  because Beverley Giesbrecht was kidnapped by the Taliban. The footage is featured now in a new documentary film airing on CBC Television next week.

It's called "The Woman who Joined the Taliban." And it chronicles her journey from a comfortable life as a businesswoman in Vancouver through to her kidnapping, and death at the hands of the Taliban.  

Kai Lawrence and Glen Cooper are intimately connected to this project.  Kai Lawrence is the director of the film and he was in our studio in London.  And Glen Cooper was a close friend of Beverley Giesbrecht's. He joined us from our studio in Kelowna.  

The film premieres on a new CBC documentary series called Firsthand, airing on October  15, at 9 p.m. across the country...9:30 in Newfoundland and parts of Labrador.

This segment was produced by The Current's Sujata Berry.