Watch 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.

Blockade drains life from Gaza

The movement of goods into Gaza had been intermittent at best since Hamas won Palestinian elections early last year

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BACKGROUND

• Israel continues Gaza blitz as 310 dead

• Q&A: Hamas and Gaza

• 97 days and counting for BBC's man in Gaza

• Now war is with the enemy within

• The little girl trapped by a quirk of war

Related Links

• Alan Johnston: soundbites from freed reporter

• View from Gaza as BBC journalist is set free

• Reaction to Alan Johnston's release

Multimedia

• In pictures: Alan Johnston

• Video: Alan Johnston is freed

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

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