La Repubblica newspaper reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo (L) speaks on a telephone after his release, while accompanied by Emergency aid agency doctor Gino Strada in Kandahar, Afghanistan March 19, 2007. Hundreds of family and friends of Mastrogiacomo's executed driver blockaded his hospital on Tuesday, demanding to know what happened to the dead man.
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Security forces arrested an Afghan hospital head on Tuesday after hundreds of people protested to demand information about the executed driver of kidnapped Italian reporter Daniele Mastrogiacomo.
Rahamatullah Hanafi was arrested outside the Italian charity hospital in the southern town of Lashkar Gah, where the journalist was housed for the night after his release by the Taliban who had kidnapped him two weeks ago.
Reasons for his arrest were not immediately known.
But it came hours after hundreds of family and friends of the executed driver, Syed Agha, blockaded the emergency hospital, demanding to know what happened to the dead man.
They chanted "Death to Rahamatullah!", and said they would not let Mastrogiacomo be driven away for a flight to Kabul until he met them to say what had happened to his driver.
Mastrogiacomo spent the night in the hospital after being freed by the Taliban following almost two weeks in captivity, accused of spying and threatened with execution himself.
Agha's throat was slit on Thursday after a Taliban court convicted him of spying, rebel officials said.
His body had not been recovered.
Mastrogiacomo, a Pakistani-born La Repubblica newspaper reporter, was due in Kabul on Tuesday, according to Italian ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi.
"(He is in) very good health," Sequi told reporters late on Monday night. "He's in very good physical condition."
The Taliban say he was freed after the Afghan government handed over four of five insurgent leaders, including the brother of military commander Mullah Dadullah.
Another Italian journalist, Gabriele Torsello, was kidnapped in Helmand in October and held for three weeks before being released unharmed.
Helmand, the country's opium centre, and neighbouring Kandahar province, are considered the most dangerous places in Afghanistan.
"My head is still spinning but I am happy. I managed to get out of the situation and I thank everybody who helped me," the freed Italian journalist told a TV channel owned by La Repubblica soon after his release on Monday.
"This is the most wonderful moment of my life."
The journalist said he had been "bound hand and foot" by his captors and moved to 15 different locations "as small as sheep pens, in the middle of the desert".
He did not explain why he was travelling in an area regarded as unsafe for foreigners. Sequi refused to say if a ransom had been paid.
NATO this month launched a major offensive in Helmand to take on the Taliban, as well as druglords.
Helmand Province within Afganistan
Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo was released by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan, Monday, after having been kidnapped and held hostage since March 5, 2007. Mastrogiacomo's intrepreter is believed to have been released as well, though no details are reported.

Mastrogiacomo, a reporter with Italian newspaper '''', was taken captive in Helmand Province along with his Afghan interpreter and his driver, while attempting to obtain interviews with members of the Taliban.

In a television interview after his release, Mastrogiacomo expressed his gratitude to those that worked for his release. "I'm very happy, I thank you all. I knew you wouldn't abandon me", said Mastrogiacomo.

He also described some horrors that he witnessed while in captivity. Syed Agha had been killed in front of him by their captors. "I saw him being decapitated, it was horrific", Mastrogiacomo recalled.

The driver, Syed Agha was reportedly decapitated by his captors for "spying" in the presence of Mastrogiacomo. Agha's family blockaded the hospital in Lashkar Gah where Mastrogiacomo was being treated, demanding to know what happened to Agha. For reasons still unclear, security forces arrested the head of that hospital, Rahamatullah Hanafi.

Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah told  that the release of Mastrogiacomo and his interpreter was secured through the exchange of five senior Taliban members.

 Romano Prodi suggested it was not a simple task to secure Mastrogiacomo's release, which was obtained with the help of Italian authorities, humanitarian officials and the Afghan government.

According to Italian officials, Mastrogiacomo is to travel to  on Tuesday and then secure a flight to Italy.



'''This story has ''new developments''.'''

''Updated information can be found here''