Four French journalists kidnapped in Syria are freed

Four French journalists who had been kidnapped for 10 months in Syria have been released  on the border with Turkey, according to the Turkish daily Hürriyet. These reporters Nicolas Henin, Pierre Torres and Didier François Edouard Elias. All of them, blindfolded and hands tied, were located by Turkish troops as they approached the border on foot. Apparently, according to initial reports, the four had been abandoned in no man’s land by the captors, presumably members of the Islamic Army in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) near a military outpost of the Turkish town of Akçakale in the province of Sanliurfa. The military thought at first that it was bootleggers, but soon their identity was verified and they were transferred to hospital Akçakale. The Turkish authorities have been in contact with the French to organize their repatriation.

French President François Hollande, has confirmed the news via a statement in which he said that those released “are in good health despite the strenuous conditions of captivity” and have returned to France.

The four reporters were captured in two separate occasions last June while covering the Syrian conflict incidents. Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torrès disappeared on June 22, 2013 in the city of Raqqa in northern Syria. Both journalists worked as a freelancer in Syria: Henin, 37, went to Syria for the fifth time, working for television and Art magazine Le Point, as well as the French, Swiss and Canadian public broadcasters. The Torrès photojournalist, 29, after covering the Libyan revolution in 2011, was in the Arab country to cover the civil war. It was his second trip.

Didier François, meanwhile, is a veteran war correspondent who now works for the Europe 1 radio. Was kidnapped along with his partner Edouard photographer Elias, on their way to Aleppo.

About thirty foreign journalists were caught on the ground since the conflict started in March 2011, and many still missing. This latest release came two weeks after the Spanish journalists Javier Espinosa, a reporter for El Mundo, and Ricardo Garcia Vilanova, freelance photographer, regain freedom after six months of captivity.

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Posted by Kiran Chaudhary on Apr 23 2014. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.