Photographer released after 15 months in captivity
Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan and Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout have been freed yesterday after spending more than a year in captivity in Somalia.
The two journalists were released on Wednesday, 15 months after they were kidnapped on 23 August 2008 along with Somalian photographer and translator Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi. The group was returning from a refugee camp at Afgoye when it was ambushed 13 kilometers outside the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Elmi was released in January.
Brennan, a freelance journalist, spent the past 10 months ‘locked in chains’ after a failed escape attempt, according to Queensland’s state Premier Anna Bligh, who spoke to the Associated Press in Australia.
It remains unclear whether or not a ransom was paid for the journalists’ release. A police office and a lawmaker told AP that a $700,000 bride has been paid to the captors.
According to the National Union of Somali Journalists, the two journalists were handed over by four members of the Transitional Federal Parliament to transitional federal government forces. The TFP is an interim Parliament of Somalia.
Reporters Without Borders has welcomed news of the release. ‘This fortunate outcome ends a cruel ordeal for Lindhout and Brennan, who were held hostage for 15 months in very tough conditions,’ says the press freedom organisation. ‘They are still in the Somali capital but we hope they will be reunited with their families without delay.’
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