'executed' Afghans said to be held in Russia

Hundreds of Afghan political prisoners thought to have been executed in the past two years are actually being held inside the Soviet Union, The Times of London reported Wednesday. In a dispatch from Kabul, Afghanistan, the newspaper said it learned of the political prisoners from a letter smuggled out of the Soviet Union with the help of a Russian worker and an Afghan student.

The letter was written by a Shiite Muslim mullah who wanted to tell his family that he and hundreds of other Afghans were being held prisoner in Russia, working in Tula, 140 miles south of Moscow, the Times said.