Free Alan Johnston speaks to the media about his ordeal, Hamas Takes Credit 

The PSC welcomes the news of Alan Johnston’s release

[ 04/07/2007 - 11:50 AM ]

LONDON, (PIC)-- 

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in a press release issued Wednesday, welcomed the news of Alan Johnston’s release after 114 days in captivity.

"We would like to thank everybody for their tireless efforts, all the Palestinian organisations, including Hamas, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in the UK and all those everywhere who worked for his release," the statement read.

Betty Hunter, General Secretary of the PSC said: “We want to send our best wishes to Alan Johnston and his family after what has been an excruciating ordeal for all.”

Finally, the PSC expressed hope to see "the release of the thousand(s) of Palestinian political prisoners, including dozens of democratically elected parliamentarians, still in Israeli jail."

Haniya: Releasing Johnston points to prevailing security in Gaza

[ 04/07/2007 - 10:17 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- 

Ismail Haniya, the premier of the PA caretaker government, has affirmed that the release of British journalist Alan Johnston at an early hour Wednesday was an indicator of prevailing security and stability in the Gaza Strip.

Haniya, in a press conference held in the presence of Johnston, said that the Strip was witnessing great progress that it did not witness in many years.

He affirmed that his government was serious in imposing security in the Strip, noting that the interior ministry had exerted great efforts to secure release of Johnston without harming him.

Haniya also thanked the Qassam Brigades, armed wing of Hamas, and the interior ministry's executive force for their efforts in this regard.

He revealed that his spokesman Dr. Ghazi Hamad was entrusted with holding secret contacts with the abductors over the past few months.

Seizing the opportunity of Johnston's release, Haniya called on the Israeli government to negotiate an end to the issue of the captured IOF servicemen Gilad Shalit in an "honorable swap deal" that would end suffering of Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails.

Hamas: Kidnapping journalists a thing of the past

[ 04/07/2007 - 10:29 AM ]

GAZA, (PIC)-- 

The Hamas Movement commenting on the release of BBC reporter Alan Johnston after four months in captivity in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday affirmed that kidnapping or threatening Palestinian or foreign journalists was "a thing of the past".

The Movement said that freedom of opinion and expression is sanctioned by Islam and Palestinian traditions in addition to being guaranteed by the law.

Hamas asked the western countries, especially Britain, on this occasion to exert all efforts to lift the siege on the Palestinian people and to help them regain their usurped rights.

For his part, Dr. Ahmed Bahar, the acting PLC speaker, said commenting on the same issue that there would be no return to security mess in the Gaza Strip.

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, affirmed that freedom of Johnston served as a fresh proof of prevailing security in the Strip.

The armed wing, which played a major role in securing the release of the British journalist, said that it had condemned the kidnapping from the first moment it occurred.

It hoped that soon "our oppressed prisoners in Zionist occupation jails" would be freed and hoped the same for all oppressed prisoners in the world.

Free Alan Johnston speaks to the media about his ordeal

Date: 04 / 07 / 2007 Time: 20:08

Jerusalem - Ma'an - 

Looking rather pale, Alan Johnston first appeared in public, before crowds of journalists, on Wednesday afternoon in the gardens of the UK consulate in Jerusalem. He described how he survived over 100 days being held by a group of what he described as “jihadi” fighters. At times he felt like he had been “buried alive”, he said, but was boosted by the support of journalists worldwide, particularly Palestinians, and of colleagues and friends, whose messages he heard via BBC radio's World Service.

He described Hamas as the power currently most capable of imposing law and order in the Gaza Strip.

“Surreal”

Alan Johnston was kidnapped by masked gunmen on 12th March in the northern Gaza Strip. During the press conference, he described how he had travelled the same route many times and had even imagined being kidnapped many times before. The experience was initially “surreal,” he said, but then he realised it was “serious” when his captors began pulling his money and passport out of his pockets and grabbing his watch. He realised he was travelling east, he said. Then, he was bundled into an apartment and a hood was put over his head.

Around midnight, a man, who was clearly a leader of the group, came to visit him. Johnston told the press conference that this was when his fears of being kidnapped by a ‘jihadi’ group were confirmed. The leader threatened to kill and torture him, Johnston recalled. He knew then that he was in “a lot of trouble”, he said.

This was the only conversation Johnston held with representatives of his captors, the Army of Islam.

“Unlike the multitude of militant groups in Gaza that oppose the Israeli occupation”, Johnston said he knew this time it was different. He had become a “pawn in the war between Muslims and non-Muslims”, Johnston said, although he had “never felt at war with anyone.”

“As some people in the west see all Arabs and Muslims as terrorists,” Johnston said, he felt this man “was a mirror image” of that.

Johnston recalled that he tried to make his case heard, stressing that he had lived in Gaza for three years amongst the Palestinians, becoming their friend and ally. However, the leader “wasn’t impressed”, he said.

Luckily, however, his fears were not realised and he never suffered torture or maltreatment throughout his 114 days of captivity.

Johnston told how he was moved twice during his four-month captivity. He was treated well, he said. At the beginning, he fell ill, but his captors gave him the food he requested, Johnston recalled, and the “regime” relaxed. In one hideout, he had free access to a bathroom and a kitchen, and from early on, he could listen to his own story, and that of the Gaza Strip, unfolding on BBC World Service via an old transistor radio.

Terrifying experience

Johnston explained how he had never seriously feared kidnap in Gaza. “Nobody had been hurt, or killed, or held for more than 12 days,” he said, “and Gaza was too small.”

But hearing “people talking about killing you” and “not knowing how long it would last” was “occasionally terrifying,” he said.

When asked if he ever dreamt of escaping, Johnston affirmed that he had, but had never entertained that thought. He knew his hideout was in an area of “intense militant activity”, he said, and his main guard was “a tough urban guerilla guy.”

Hamas: best for law and order

When Hamas seized power of Gaza in mid-June, Johnston recalled that the “mood changed”. His captors were clearly worried that the hideout would be stormed, he remembered.

During the times of street fighting, Johnston felt the fear of being “kidnapped in a place that appeared to be collapsing.”

Johnston himself gained an understanding of the extent of the change when he learnt that the brother of one of his guards had been arrested by Hamas. Then he understood that Hamas knew who his captors were, and his whereabouts.

This was when his captors staged the videotape in which Johnston appeared wearing an explosive vest. His captors brought in an ordinary businessman’s briefcase, Johnston said, and then brought out “the real thing” for him to wear. Johnston understood that they were using him to threaten Hamas against attacking their group.

He described such video moments as “grim”. He said that some of what he said was true, and some wasn’t, but he stressed that he was “putting across their worldview”, referring to his captors, the Army of Islam.

Hamas has a “strong law and order agenda”, Johnston said, and are “better” at keeping the law and order. He refrained from giving any particular political commentary or advice to his government or any other party.

Johnston also affirmed that his captors never made any mention of the captured Israeli soldier, Corporal Gilad Shalit.

Regarding the future of Army of Islam, he said that their fate would be decided by Hamas.

As for the change of attitude towards working in Gaza, particularly amongst international press and aid agencies, Johnston feared that the “ordinary people” of Gaza would suffer.

An amazing Fourth of July

On the eve of his release, Johnston said some “young guys”, whom he had not seen before, burst into his room, “wild-eyed” and ordered him to dress. They told him, “you are going to Britain”, but Johnston did not initially believe them, recalling that he had been told the same line before.

This was the first time he suffered violence, he said. The men began slamming him against the wall and hitting his head, he said.

When he was eventually released and saw people he knew, it was “an extraordinary moment”, he said.

“Journalists to the rescue”

Hearing messages from friends and colleagues all around the world gave him an “extraordinary psychological boost”, Johnston told his journalist colleagues, thanking them all profusely. Never before, he speculated, had kidnapping victims been able to follow his own story so intently. A kidnapping victim’s biggest fear, he said, was seeing his story “die” and, in his case, he felt “so grateful” for seeing the “journalists coming to the rescue.”

He felt “the whole world was rooting for me” at times.

When asked if he ever felt despair, he responded that messages from other former kidnapping victims, such as Terry Waite and Brian Keenan, whom he heard via the his radio, kept him going. Waite told him, “you will find reserves within you didn’t know you had”, and Johnston said that was true. He would remind himself, “You haven’t been killed, you weren’t tortured”, and somehow keep going, focussing on “living through the day” as Terry Waite advised him.

He paid particular tribute to the Palestinian journalists, saying how touched he was to hear about vigils and protests taking place throughout the Palestinian territories. He queried whether, if God forbid, a Palestinian journalist was abducted in the UK, would British journalists also storm the parliamentary building, calling for the foreign journalist’s release?

Such action reminded him that “beyond these walls” were the Palestinian people he knew, who were “hospitable”, “warm” and “kind”.

Earlier, former Prime Minister and Hamas spokesperson, Ismail Haniyeh, had denounced Johnston's abductors. David Miliband, British Foreign Secretary, stated "I fully acknowledge the crucial role they [the Hamas movement] have played in securing this happy outcome. Hostage taking is an abhorrent crime. I hope that the overwhelming support shown for Alan over the last four months has shown that all decent people believe that hostage taking can never be a legitimate way to achieve one's ends."

A final question: Would he go back to Gaza? “Enough already” was all Johnston responded.

Further details of Johnston's release can be found here: BBC correspondent Alan Johnston is freed

 

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