by DAVID AXE
Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, the freelance journalists from Canada and Australia, respectively, have been freed after some 15 months in captivity in Somalia. Their kidnappers, allegedly criminal gangs with ties to insurgent group Al Shabab, demanded $1 million apiece in ransom. Some ransom was paid, although how much is not clear.
“So, basically, my day was sitting on a corner, on the floor, 24 hours a day for the last 15 months,” said Lindhout, pictured. “There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured. It was an extremely, extremely difficult situation.”
Somali sources early this year indicated that Lindhout had become pregnant. Thankfully, that appears to have been false.
The abduction was orchestrated by security guards at the Shamo hotel in Mogadishu, where Lindhout and Brennan had been staying. In the wake of the crime, the Shamo general manager — who also worked as a media fixer — quit. That left few places in Mogadishu where the international media can safely work.
(Photo: CTV)
Related posts:
[...] Related: Mogadishu Hotel Bombing Claims Reporters, Officials World Politics Review: Somali Islamists Reject U.N Food Aid Kidnapped Somali Journos, Freed Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission Targets Seafarers’ Hearts and Minds No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]
[...] Related: Puntland Scraps Makeshift Pirate-Fighting Force Survivor Describes Mogadishu Hotel Bombing Mogadishu Hotel Bombing Claims Reporters, Officials World Politics Review: Somali Islamists Reject U.N Food Aid Kidnapped Somali Journos, Freed Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission Targets Seafarers’ Hearts and Minds No Comments so far Leave a comment RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI Leave a comment Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong> [...]
[...] Bombing Claims Reporters, Officials World Politics Review: Somali Islamists Reject U.N Food Aid Kidnapped Somali Journos, Freed Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission [...]