Ken Hechtman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ken Hechtman was a freelance journalist from Canada who achieved brief international prominence in late 2001. Afghanistan's Taliban government captured him as a suspected United States spy while he researched a story for the Montreal Mirror. Afghanistan tried, acquitted, and released him after a short time in jail.

In his youth Mr. Hechtman made a memorable impression at Columbia University by getting expelled for keeping stolen uranium in his dormitory room. He had discovered a forgotten storage room underneath the university's chemistry building while exploring the Columbia University Tunnels. The 1992 edition of Lisa Birnbach's College Book named him as a campus legend for the exploit. Mr. Hechtman has returned to school at McGill University and now studies computer science.

[edit] Bibliography

Lisa Birnbach's New and Improved College Book, by Lisa Birnbach (1992) ISBN 0-671-79289-X

[edit] External links

• A Pravda report on Hechtman's captivity in Afghanistan.
• A CBC story about Hechtman and the Taliban.
• Ken Hechtman's Taliban story for the Montreal Mirror.
• A Columbia Spectator article.
• An article by The Blue and White, Columbia University's undergraduate magazine: http://www.bwog.net/publicate/index.php?page=post&article_id=211