Freed journalists arrive home from Syria
21 April 2014 5:57 AM IST
PARIS: Four French journalists taken hostage in Syria arrived in France early on Sunday, a day after they were freed from 10 months in captivity in the world’s most dangerous country for the media. A plane carrying Edouard Elias, Didier Francois, Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres from Turkey touched down at a military base in northern France early on Sunday, the president’s office said.
They were then taken by helicopter to the Villacoublay air base southwest of Paris, where they will be met by President Francois Hollande and their families and colleagues, before undergoing medical checks. Hollande said on Saturday they were ‘in good health despite the very challenging conditions of their captivity’. Turkish soldiers found them abandoned in no-man’s land on the border with Syria overnight Friday to Saturday, wearing blindfolds and with their hands bound. They had been captured in two separate incidents in June last year while covering the conflict in Syria. A photo taken before they left Turkey showed the four men smiling and clean-shaven, after they appeared on Turkish television with long beards from their 10 months in captivity. ‘I’m very happy to be free. We thank the Turkish authorities because they really helped us. And it’s very nice to see the sky, to be able to walk and to be able to speak freely,’ said 53-year-old Francois before leaving Turkey.
Turkish soldiers initially took the men for smugglers but took them to a police station in the small town of Akcakle near the border when they realised they were speaking French. Around 30 foreign journalists covering the Syrian civil war have been seized since the conflict began in March 2011, and many are still missing.
Hollande told AFP he had learnt of the liberation of the four Frenchmen ‘with immense relief’. ‘I share the joy of the families of our compatriots who have endured... the fear of this trying time,’ Hollande said. Francois, a highly respected and experienced war reporter for Europe 1 radio, and photographer Elias, 23, were taken north of the main northern Syrian city of Aleppo on June 6. agencies
They were then taken by helicopter to the Villacoublay air base southwest of Paris, where they will be met by President Francois Hollande and their families and colleagues, before undergoing medical checks. Hollande said on Saturday they were ‘in good health despite the very challenging conditions of their captivity’. Turkish soldiers found them abandoned in no-man’s land on the border with Syria overnight Friday to Saturday, wearing blindfolds and with their hands bound. They had been captured in two separate incidents in June last year while covering the conflict in Syria. A photo taken before they left Turkey showed the four men smiling and clean-shaven, after they appeared on Turkish television with long beards from their 10 months in captivity. ‘I’m very happy to be free. We thank the Turkish authorities because they really helped us. And it’s very nice to see the sky, to be able to walk and to be able to speak freely,’ said 53-year-old Francois before leaving Turkey.
Turkish soldiers initially took the men for smugglers but took them to a police station in the small town of Akcakle near the border when they realised they were speaking French. Around 30 foreign journalists covering the Syrian civil war have been seized since the conflict began in March 2011, and many are still missing.
Hollande told AFP he had learnt of the liberation of the four Frenchmen ‘with immense relief’. ‘I share the joy of the families of our compatriots who have endured... the fear of this trying time,’ Hollande said. Francois, a highly respected and experienced war reporter for Europe 1 radio, and photographer Elias, 23, were taken north of the main northern Syrian city of Aleppo on June 6. agencies
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