CBNNews.com - GAZA STRIP - After nearly four months of solitary confinement at the hands of a Gaza-based Islamic terror group, the Army of Islam, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist Alan Johnston emerged from captivity looking pale and slightly disoriented as cameras flashed all around him. Surrounded by a throng of Palestinian gunmen, Johnston was quickly escorted to a waiting car and taken to the home of Hamas chief and deposed Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh.
Johnston, who was abducted from Gaza City on March 12, remained in the hands of his terrorist captors longer than any other foreign journalist kidnapped in the Gaza Strip. Surrounded by Hamas members, Johnston thanked Haniyeh and the others in the room. Johnston called his father and his home office from Haniyeh's home.
It's just the most fantastic thing to be free, Johnston said, speaking to BBC colleagues. It was an appalling experience, as you can imagine, 16 weeks kidnapped, sometimes, occasionally, quite terrifying and frightening, he said. Throughout most of his interment, Johnston's captors allowed him to have a radio, which he said was a huge psychological boost, helping him keep abreast of ongoing efforts to free him.
It became almost hard to imagine normal life again, Johnston told his British colleagues. And I literally dreamt many, many times of being free and always woke up back in that room. Now it really is over and it is indescribably good to be out, he said.
I didn't know where it was going to end, Johnston admitted. After an extraordinary level of stress and psychological pressure for a long, long time, I probably got out of it as well as I could have, he said. A short while later, British diplomats escorted Johnston to a waiting convoy to take him to Jerusalem, according to an official of the British consulate.
Mahmoud Zahar, a senior Hamas leader, said efforts to free Johnston weren't based on seeking Western approval. We didn't work to receive favors from the British government, Zahar said. We did this because of humanitarian concern and to achieve a government aim to extend security to all without fear, he said.
On Tuesday, Hamas gunmen took up roof-top positions and deployed on the streets of Tal a-Islam in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City where the Dughmush clan, headed by Mumtaz Dughmush, lives. Hamas officials accused the al-Qaeda-linked clan, which leads the 400-strong Army of Islam, as being nothing but a group of thugs and murderers, devoid of any semblance of scruples, who would do anything for money. But following the BBC reporter's release, Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha said in return for freeing Johnston, Hamas would not dismantle or disarm the Army of Islam.
Hamas also freed Army of Islam spokesman Ahmad Mathloum, better known as Khattab al-Makdissi, as part of the exchange. The Army of Islam, in return, freed nine Hamas university students kidnapped earlier in the week, following Mathloum's detention. Haniyeh Speaks of Freeing Gilad Shalit In a press conference from his home Wednesday morning, Haniyeh said he hoped Johnston's release would herald the release of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Corporal Gilad Shalit, abducted more than a year ago.
If the Israelis think reasonably and rationally, said a smiling Haniyeh, and take into account the humanitarian issue and the suffering of the Palestinian prisoners, we will be able to reach a deal, he said. Haniyeh blamed Israel for delaying efforts to release Johnston, saying his freedom is a happy moment for the Palestinian people. CBNNews.
com - GAZA STRIP - After nearly four months of solitary confinement at the hands of a Gaza-based Islamic terror group, the Army of Islam, British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) journalist Alan Johnston emerged from captivity looking pale and slightly disoriented as cameras flashed all around him.
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