Two freelance journalists, one from Canada and the other from Australia, were freed on Wednesday after 15 months in captivity in Somalia, with the Canadian alleging she was tortured.
The pair left Mogadishu by plane on Thursday, witnesses said, but there was no immediate indication as to where the plane was headed.
One of their kidnappers, who refused to identify himself, said a ransom of US$1 million had paid for the release of Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan.
A hotel employee said the pair were “very tired” following their ordeal — one of the longest-running of many kidnappings in the lawless Horn of Africa country.
Lindhout told Canadian broadcaster CTV that she was beaten and tortured by her captors, who she called criminals pretending to be freedom fighters, and acknowledged that the two families paid US$1 million for their freedom.
Lindhout said she spent her captivity “sitting in a corner on the floor 24 hours a day for the last 15 months. There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured.”
“It was extremely oppressive,” she added. “I was kept by myself at all times. I had no one to speak to. I was normally kept in a room with a light, no window, I had nothing to write on or with. There was very little food.”
The kidnappers told her that they beat her, she said, because the money “wasn’t coming quickly enough.”
The Australian family of Brennan spoke of their “overwhelming” joy after his release.
An emotional Kellie Brennan, the photojournalist’s sister-in-law, fought back tears as she recounted the family’s harrowing emotional journey since his capture in August last year.
“It’s very hard to express the overwhelming sense of joy that we have today that we feel as a family at the news of Nigel and Amanda’s release,” Kellie Brennan told reporters.
Lindhout and Brennan were captured on Aug. 23 last year en route from Mogadishu to visit a refugee camp in Afgooye, just outside the capital.
A Somali journalist and two drivers were also taken hostage but freed after 177 days. They were unable to identify their captors or the motives for the kidnappings.
In September last year, a local tribal chief participated in negotiations to try to free the pair and said the kidnappers wanted US$2.5 million. In January, he said the demand had been reduced to US$100,000.
Somali media had reported the two journalists had escaped in February and found refuge at a mosque before being recaptured.
In May, the pair provided proof that they were still alive by calling media outlets.
While some observers regularly accused Ottawa of inaction on the file, others say the two journalists had been naive in underestimating the dangers in the region.
The Canadian weekly newsmagazine MacLean’s said Lindhout had had no formal training as a reporter when she traveled to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq to find work as a war correspondent.
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