British reporter Alan Johnston, looking gaunt and walking stiffly, was released yesterday after nearly four months in captivity in the Gaza Strip, saying it was "fantastic" to be free after an "appalling" ordeal in which his life was threatened.
The BBC correspondent was freed under murky terms after the Hamas militant group that controls Gaza stepped up the pressure on his captors, a shadowy group called the Army of Islam.
`Terrifying'
At a news conference with Hamas officials, Johnston -- who was held in captivity far longer than any other foreign reporter -- described his experience as "occasionally terrifying."
"The last 16 weeks, of course, were just the very worst you can imagine of my life, like being buried alive, really, removed from the world," he said, in a weak but composed voice.
His kidnappers, he said without elaborating, "did threaten my life a number of times in various ways."
Johnston arrived at the British consulate in Jerusalem yesterday morning, waving to a crowd of reporters waiting outside.
Hamas demands
Hamas had demanded Johnston's freedom since it violently seized control of Gaza last month, apparently hoping to curry favor with the West. On Tuesday, Hamas gunmen took positions around the Army of Islam's stronghold, stepping up the pressure to secure his release.
Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, the former Palestinian prime minister, would not disclose details of the release deal at the news conference with Johnston.
However, Hamas said earlier in the day there would be no crackdown on the Army of Islam, which is dominated by the powerful, heavily armed Doghmush clan.
Johnston said he had feared hours before his release that he would not get out alive if Hamas stormed his hideout.
"I thought there was a chance that they might really kill me, that they might not let Hamas get what they came for," he said.
Johnston, a native of Scotland kidnapped on a Gaza City street on March 12, told the pan-Arab al-Jazeera satellite news network by phone that he was in good health despite the "immense" psychological pressure.
Asked if he would return to Gaza, which he had covered for three years, Johnston said: "After many months of kidnapping, I think I need a break."
He set out for Jerusalem in the company of British diplomats after the news conference.
Chained up
Johnston recounted for reporters how he was chained up for 24 hours at one point, moved twice during his captivity and hit "a bit" in the last half hour before he was released.
The first month, he said, he was kept in a place where he could see the sun, but afterward, he was closeted in an apartment where the shutters were always drawn.
"It has been basically three months since I saw the sun," he told BBC TV at the Erez crossing between Gaza and Israel.
Johnston said his abductors "seemed very comfortable and secure in their operation until ... it became clear that Hamas would be in control."
Serious pressure
"If it hadn't been for that real serious Hamas pressure, that commitment to tidying up Gaza's many, many security problems, then I might have been in that room for a lot longer," he said.
Haniyeh wrapped up the news conference by draping a Palestinian flag around Johnston's shoulders, which he quickly removed, and pinned a Palestinian flag pin on his blue blazer.
Alan's parents, Graham and Margaret Johnston and sister Catriona, said they were "overjoyed."
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