45-year-old American journalist Peter Theo Curtis – who writes under byline of Theo Padnos – was released by the Islamic State on Sunday after two harrowing years in captivity. He was wanted over to U.N. representatives just days after James Foley was beheaded and is now safely outside Syria.
U.S. secretary of state John Kerry said that the reporter had been held by Nusra Front, Al Qaeda’s official wing in Syria. U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed on the release and “shares the joy and relief that we all feel now that Theo is out of Syria and safe,” according to a White House announcements.
News of the release emerged just days after the Islamic State group’s video of James Foley’s execution was released.
In a video obtained by The Associated Press, dated July 18, 2014, the journalist sits cross-legged with his hands bounds and seems to read from a sheet placed in front ofhim on the floor where he pleads for the U.S. and European governments to contact a certain intermediary before it is too late. “They have given me three days to live,” he says as a camouflaged man holds an assault rifle. “If you don’t do anything, I’m finished. I’m dead. They will kill me. Three days. You have had 20 days and you’ve done nothing.”
In an earlier video, dated June 30, 2014, a dishevelled man says he is Peter Theo Curtis from Boston and claims to being treated well. “I have everything I need. Everything has been perfect – food, clothing, even friends now,” he says, appearing to be reading out of a script.
Curtis is an author and freelance journalist who has published books under the name Theo Padnos. He legally changed his name to Peter Theo Curtis after publishing a memoir called “Undercover Muslim: A Journey into Yemen” so that he could travel more easily in the Muslim world.
Negotiations for Curtis’ release was handled by the Qataris. The official Qatar News Agency said that Qatar had “exerted relentless efforts to release the American journalist out of Qatar’s belief in the principles of humanity and out of concern for the lives of individuals and their right to freedom and dignity.” Qatar, a leading supporter of Syrian rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad, is involved in mediating hostage releases in Syria. In March, Qatar helped broker a deal for the release of more than a dozen Greek Orthodox nuns held by the Nusra Front and they negotiated a deal for the release of nine Lebanese pilgrims in Syria by rebels in exchange for the release of two Turkish pilots held hostage in Lebanon.
A video regarding the negotiation –
His family welcomes the release. His mother, Nancy Curtis, has already reached out to the family of James Foley and feels relieved that her son didn’t meet the same fate. “I have gotten to know the Foley family during these many long months of uncertainty and worry, and have seen Diane Foley’s bravery and her heroic efforts firsthand, efforts that helped rally the spirits of the families of all the journalists and others being held captive. We appeal to the captors of the remaining hostages to release them in the same humanitarian spirit that prompted Theo’s release. While the family is not privy to the exact terms that were negotiated, we were repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for Theo’s release on a humanitarian basis without the payment of money,” said his mother.
His father, Michael Padnos, who lives just outside Paris said on Monday that his son was “happy to be back in the civilized world and see some girls.”
