Two Journalists Freed by Islamic Fighters in Syria After Weeklong Ordeal
Insurgents and Troops Clash in Iraq
Two Journalists Freed by Islamic Fighters in Syria After Weeklong Ordeal
By ROD NORDLAND
Published: July 27, 2012
CAIRO — Two foreign journalists captured by Islamic extremists in Syria and held for a week were rescued by mainstream Syrian fighters, one of them said on Friday.
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Dutch freelance photographer Jeroen Oerlemans, contacted by telephone in
Turkey, described a harrowing ordeal during which he and his captured
colleague, British photographer John Cantile, were held at a camp in
Syria by a group of several dozen foreign jihadis, who kept them hooded
and blindfolded and repeatedly threatened to kill them.
Mr. Oerlemans said their captors apparently included no Syrian fighters
but jihadis from Bangladesh, Chechnya, Pakistan and Britain. The
photographers were seized on July 19 shortly after they entered Syria at
Bab al Hawa, a border crossing with Turkey that has been reported under
control of a jihadi group.
“They were only foreign jihadis, I don’t think there was one Syrian
among them,” Mr. Oerlemans said. He estimated their numbers at between
30 and 100. “They were from all over the world I think.” He also said
the jihadis, who spoke English, talked of being under the leadership of
an unidentified “emir.”
A guide led them to the jihadis’ tent camp in error, he said. At first
the jihadis promised to release them if they could prove they were
journalists, but later accused them of being spies and talked of holding
them for ransom.
“They were definitely quite extreme in their religious beliefs,” he
said. “All day we were spoken to about the Koran and how they would
bring Sharia law
to Syria. I don’t think they were Al Qaeda, they seemed too amateurish
for that. They said, ‘We’re not Al Qaeda, but Al Qaeda is down the
road.’ “
There have been growing reports of efforts by Al Qaeda to insinuate
itself into the Syrian conflict, although spokesmen for Syria’s
opposition groups have denied they have any role there.
The two journalists attempted to escape from the camp at one point, but
were both shot and recaptured by the jihadis. “We were really lucky,”
Mr. Oerlemans said. “Unbelievably lucky.” He said he was wounded in the
groin and Mr. Cantile in the arm.
Their captors spoke incessantly about the American prison camp at
Guantánamo. “It was constantly on their minds and they were saying this
is what you do to our guys,” Mr. Oerlemans said. “They would cock their
weapons and say, ‘Prepare for the after life,’ or, ‘You better repent
and accept Islam.’ It was pretty terrifying, I can assure you.”
Finally, Thursday evening, the two men were in a tent, blindfolded when
they heard a group of men come in. “They were shouting at everyone,
saying how long has this been going on, this is outrageous, yelling at
the jihadis, and then they told us, ‘You are free.’ Our hearts leapt of
course.”
Mr. Oerlemans said he assumed their rescuers were fighters from the Free
Syrian Army. They fired into the air during the rescue but more as a
show of force to intimidate the jihadis, rather than as part of a
firefight, he said.
Both journalists were escorted back across the border to Turkey.
Mr. Oerlemans is a freelancer with the British agency Panos Pictures.
Mr. Cantile is a freelancer who was on assignment for the Sunday Times
of London, Mr. Oerlemans said.
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