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video of Alan Johnston's release
The BBC reporter Alan Johnston emerged blinking into the sunlight of Gaza City
today after spending almost four months as the prisoner of the extremist
Army of Islam, an ordeal he said was "like being buried alive".
The reporter was freed at around 3.30am after 114 days in captivity, as Hamas
fighters closed in around the compound of the extremist group that had held
him.
After a final ride through Gaza City - during which he said he was roughed up
for the first time - Johnston was taken to the house of Ismail Haniya, the
deposed Palestinian Prime Minister, where he walked down the street
surrounded by a protective cordon of 50 to 60 Hamas gunmen carrying
rocket-propelled grenades and AK47s.
Although he appeared gaunt and walked stiffly, the 45-year-old Scot appeared
mentally strong and remained composed as he gave a joint press conference
with Mr Haniya and other officials at the Hamas leader's Gaza City office -
designed to reinforce the message that it was Hamas which had won his
freedom.
After that he was taken to the British consulate in Jerusalem, from where he
gave another press conference, before getting ready to fly home to the UK
later today.
"The last 16 weeks, of course, were just the very worst you can imagine of my
life, like being buried alive, really, removed from the world," Johnson, had
been held for far longer than any other Western journalist in Gaza, told his
press conference in the territory. "It is just the most fantastic thing to
be free."
At his two press conferences - and in other interviews given during his first
hours of freedom - Mr Johnston recounted how he had repeatedly feared for
his life during his time in captivity.
The first month, he said, he was kept in a place where he could see the sun,
but afterwards, he was closeted in an apartment where the shutters were
always drawn. "It’s been basically three months since I saw the sun," he
said.
"I dreamt, literally dreamt, of being free again and always woke up in that
room. It's almost hard to believe that I'm not going to wake up in a minute
in that room again," he added.
He added that he was able to follow the news on a radio through most of his
captivity, first via the BBC Arabic service and then, with another radio
set, through its World Service in English, and had been buoyed by the
worldwide reaction after his abduction on a Gaza City street on March 12.
He was also able to follow events in Gaza itself as Hamas took control of the
coastal strip last month and started to ratchet up the pressure on his
kidnappers - fearing to the end that he could be killed in the event of a
shootout. "I thought there was a chance that they might really kill me, that
they might not let Hamas get what they came for," he said.
He also found time to make a quick crackling phone call home, to his parents,
Graham and Margaret, in his home village of Lochgoilhead in Argyll on the
west coast of Scotland - describing later how his main regret was the trauma
he had put them through.
His parents had recorded a number of messages with the BBC to keep up the
pressure for his release, but had had to endure a false claim from another
Palestinian group on April 16 that it had killed him - only to be reassured
by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian President, that he was still alive.
They had also had to watch two videos of their son released by his captors,
including one showing him in a suicide bomber's explosive belt which the
group threatened to set off if there was any attempt to free him by force.
He also confirmed that after three years as the BBC's Gaza correspondent and
almost four months in captivity, he had no plans to come back to the
territory.
The exact terms of any deal to release Johnston are still unclear but appear
to have involved an amnesty towards the Army of Islam, and a prisoner swap
including not just Johnston but ten Hamas members also held by the renegade
group.
The Army of Islam had demanded that Britain release Abu Qatada, a radical
Islamic cleric with ties to al-Qaeda, in return for Johnston. It also had
threatened to kill the reporter if Hamas tried to free him by force.
This afternoon at his Jerusalem press conference, Johnston revealed that
Hamas's military coup in Gaza had led to a complete change of mood among his
captors, who became nervous.
"The kidnappers ... seemed to be cruising along in security terms, no worries.
Suddenly, they were worried that Hamas had them in their sights," he said.
"The whole mood began to change, and I began to hope against hope that we were
moving into some kind of endgame.
"I'm pretty sure if Hamas hadn't come in and stuck the heat on in a big way, I
would still be in that room."
A senior Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, denied that the Islamists had acted to
free the journalist in an effort to improve its relations with the West,
which is boycotting the Islamic group over its violently anti-Israel
ideology. "We didn’t work to receive favours from the British government. We
did this because of humanitarian concern, and to achieve a government aim to
extend security to all without fear," Mr Zahar said.
Last-minute negotiations almost stumbled over Army of Islam’s demands to be
able to hold on to their weapons. The kidnappers feared that other Gaza
families with whom they are locked into blood feuds would take the
opportunity to seek revenge.
Hamas refused their demands and told them that if Johnston was released, full
talks on conditions could be held afterwards. Hamas fighters were pulling
away from the Army of Islam compound last night, firing their guns in
celebration.
One of the fighters involved in the siege told The Times: "After they had been
surrounded and we had closed in on them, they decided to release. They
surrendered with no conditions. We gave them security if they handed him
over alive and unharmed and they handed over their weapons."
Earlier in the day, hundreds of Hamas fighters threw a tight cordon around the
area of Gaza City where Johnston was being held to try to force the Army of
Islam to relinquish its hostage.
Members of the Army of Islam said that they had planted car bombs around the
area to detonate if Hamas forces stormed the heavily built up area of
two-storey concrete apartment blocks. Hamas had deployed snipers on rooftops
and had local civilians from the Sabra area of Gaza City, where Johnston was
held, spying on the movements of the kidnapper gang.
In the 114 days of his captivity Muslim leaders, journalists and politicians
have united to condemn his captors and more than 180,000 people have signed
an online petition calling for his release.
The Army of Islam, which claims ties to al-Qaeda, is estimated to number
between 150 and 200 fighters and is led by Mumtaz Dagmoush, a local militant
who has previously served in several other Gaza militias.
The noose was thrown around the Sabra area, just south of the city centre, a
day after Hamas arrested the group’s spiritual leader, Kattab al-Maqdisi,
who many here believe was the brains behind the operation.
The Army of Islam, whose formerly close relations with Hamas soured earlier
this year, was one of three Hamas-allied groups that captured Israeli
corporal Gilad Shalit more than a year ago. At today's 6am news conference,
Mr Haniyeh said Hamas was interested in ending Corporal Shalit’s captivity
through an "honourable" prisoner exchange deal.
"Israel welcomes the release of Alan Johnston and we know that the release
brings relief brings to his family and friends," Israeli Foreign Ministry
spokesman Mark Regev said. "Israel hoped for his safe release, just as we
hope for the safe release of our own hostage, Gilad Shalit."
114 days
March 12 Johnston seen being bundled into a car in Gaza City
May 9 Army of Islam, a hitherto little-known Islamist group linked to
Gaza's Dagmoush clan, claim responsibility for his kidnapping, releasing a
picture of Johnston's identity card
June 1 First video of Johnston, showing him wearing a red sweater. The
video demands the release of Muslim prisoners, including the cleric Abu
Qatada, held in Britain
June 15 Hamas fighters take control of Gaza, pushing out secular Fatah
forces
June 19 Hamas threatens to release Johnston by force if he is not given
up
June 20 100 days since abduction.
June 24 Short video released of Johnston apparently wearing a suicide
belt. He calls on Hamas and the British government "not to resort to tactics
of force in an effort to end this" and says the Army of Islam "are ready to
turn the hideout into what they describe as a death zone"
Source: agencies
