Hero Brit who was held hostage and brutally tortured by Taliban while trying to save vulnerable kids awarded for bravery

A FORMER undercover CIA agent who was held hostage and tortured by the Taliban for 190 days has been awarded for his bravery. Anthony Stephen Malone, 50, won the Inspiration of the Year award at the English Veterans Awards on Thursday. Anthony Malone won the Inspiration of the Year award at the English Veterans Awards He was one of the six Brits released by the Taliban last June The ex-para described how was brutally tortured to give the passwords to his phone The former paratrooper and his colleague were forced to spend six months in a tiny dark underground cell in Kabul after they were captured in 2021. Anthony faced “barbaric” living conditions in the 3×3 holding cell with no toilets, any other facilities or even sunlight. And he was brutally beaten and left with six fractured ribs, a kidney infection serious concussion, and nerve damage – as well as being threatened with execution multiple times. He was one of six Brits who were eventually released by the Taliban on June 20, 2022. More than a year after his horrific ordeal, Anthony was nominated for the Lifetime Achievement Award – where he won bronze – and won the Inspiration of the Year Award. He said he’s “honoured and humbled” to have won. The brave Brit said he’s still working to help free vulnerable people from Afghanistan and Ukraine as the head of an international committee focused on counter-human trafficking. Anthony has spent years travelling to and from Afghanistan, helping to evacuate vulnerable families. During the mission with his colleague in 2021, they were in regular contact with senior Taliban officials and never encountered any problems – until they met a group of “rogue” officials. Despite having the right documentation, they were held captive in for 190 days – without being charged. The 50-year-old said they were forced to sleep on the hard concrete floor and were given a plate of beans and rice to eat – but not any water. Anthony said that after two weeks in captivity, he was brutally tortured in order to give up the codes and passwords of his phone. The paratrooper refused to do so as he had details and photos of families he was trying to rescue. And he knew that after four weeks, all the data on his phone would be deleted thanks to a self-destruction programme he had installed. He revealed he was even offered a deal to turn in the other Brits but said the thought “never even crossed my mind for a second”. “He may have broken my body but not my spirit,” he told The Sun. “On a separate occasion I was taken upstairs, pinned to the floor by several members of the Taliban, I was handcuffed at the front and my legs were tied together. “They removed my shoes and socks and they whipped the bottom of my feet over 24 times with a hardened rubber hose.” He was so badly injured that he was placed in solitary confinement for 72 days. He recalled the first time he was allowed to have a five-minute phone call with his fiance, Nicki, after weeks in captivity. In one of these conversations, he managed to get a message out to her that he was being treated tortured – and she then managed to contact the Foreign Office. The day before his release, Anthony was called into a room by Ahmed – who always seemed like he had “a personal grudge” against him. “He started a conversation about how evil our country is and he was insulting Britain,” Anthony explained. “That’s when I’ve done one of the most stupid things I could have done – I stood up to him and went nose to nose with him in a room full of armed guards and told him to be more respectful towards our country. “He got so angry he couldn’t speak, he flipped the table over smashing glasses. “When he calmed down, he said ‘your friends are going to leave tomorrow at 2pm and you will stay here’. “I stood up, thanked him for letting my friends go and told him ‘I look forward to spending more quality time with you.’ “He didn’t take that well. I walked out and I could hear him screaming.” But when he returned to his cell, his colleagues told him they were being released. The group were taken to Kabul airport to fly back home on June 20. “I have always been positive, even in the darkest days,” Anthony said. “It’s a surreal experience, you have to keep yourself grounded and crack on. “You can either curl up in a corner and cry when something happens to you or you could roll up your sleeves and just get on with it.” In his book Honour Bound, Anthony, an advocate of women’s rights, describes in excruciating detail the horrifying moments he suffered while held hostage in Kabul. Anthony was awarded the Inspiration of the Year award The 50-year-old said he was in regular contact with Taliban officials Anthony pictured before a meeting in Kabul Anthony (right) pictured during the evacuation mission in Afghanistan