Freed journalist set to return to Jordan

Rappler.com

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After 18 months in captivity, journalist Baker Atyani is set to come back home on Sunday, December 8. He says he 'can't really explain' his emotions.

FREE AT LAST. Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani speaks to the media and says he finds it hard to explain what he feels. Apa Agbayani/Rappler

MANILA, Philippines – Jordanian journalist Baker Atyani is set to return to Jordan on Sunday, December 8, after 18 gruelling months with the Abu Sayyaf in the jungles of Sulu.

Looking gaunt and thin, Atyani arrived in Manila on Friday, December 6. Police said he lost 35 lbs throughout an ordeal that forced him to live in the mountains of Sulu and eat only rice and fish.

He gave a brief statement to media at the Anti-Kidnapping Group’s office in Camp Crame, thanking his fellow journalists for their coverage of the story. “I really would like to thank all those who stood for me during this crisis. You, my colleagues in the media, friends, those who were showing their support on the social network,” said Atyani, a well-known reporter for the Al-Arabiya News Channel who has interviewed Osama bin Laden, the slain founder of Al-Qaeda.

“I’m really glad and I’m happy that I’m back. I’ll be meeting soon my loved ones,” he added. Atyani kept his statement brief, saying, “My feelings and emotions, I can’t really explain them well.”

After giving his statement, Atyani was debriefed by the Philippine National Police Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) in Camp Crame.

Escaped?

Senior Superintendent Renato Gumban, AKG chief, reiterated to reporters that Atyani was not freed, but escaped his captors, walking through the mountains. He was eventually found by policemen in Patikul, Sulu, according to Gumban.

His 18-month abduction in Sulu is the longest involving a journalist in the Philippines. The Abu Sayyaf has kidnapped journalists in the past, but freed them after several days. ABS-CBN anchor and reporter Ces Oreña-Drilon, for instance, was kidnapped in Sulu on June 8, 2008, along with her two cameramen. They were released in two batches more than a week later.

The Abu Sayyaf abducted Atyani and his two Filipino crew members while they were on assignment in Sulu last June 2012. PNP sources disclosed there were protracted negotiations for ransom, culminating in the release of the two Filipinos who were with Atyani – cameraman Ramil Vela and audio technician Roland “Buboy” Letrero – in February this year.

It’s not clear if ransom was paid for Atyani’s release.

Two European birdwatchers who were abducted in February 2012 in Tawi-Tawi remain in captivity in western Mindanao.

The Abu Sayyaf also kidnapped Filipino-Muslim filmmaker sisters in June this year – 39-year-old Nadjoua Bansil and her 37-year-old sister Linda, who were in Sulu to produce low-budget, independent films showcasing Filipino Muslim life and culture. (READ: Bansil kidnap: P50-M ransom demanded)

Their father, Abdulbassit Bansil, is a Muslim cleric — a close associate of the founding leaders of the Philippines’ two largest armed Muslim movements — the Moro National Liberation Front and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. He married an Algerian-Moroccan, to whom a P50-million ransom demand was allegedly made.

The sisters are still being held captive by the Abu Sayyaf. – with reports from Apa Agbayani/Rappler.com

 



 

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